Norwich City Women head coach Shaun Howes spoke to canaries.co.uk following the squad's defeat against Actonians and to look ahead to this weekend's clash against Chesham United.
A tough defeat against a good side this weekend just gone. What did you make of our performance?
I think we tried to play the right way, and in periods of the game we were really good. We started well but conceded a very good goal when on top and that seemed to drain our energy and it took us too long to recover from that. We increased our energy and intensity in the second half and did better.
We looked as though we might have been getting back into it when Tash pulled one back but that fourth goal finished us off. Would you say it just wasn’t our day?
I think both us and Actonians were very closely matched, but they were much more clinical with the chances they had. If we had scored when we were on top, the game could have been very different, but I think the result was a fair reflection on the game.
Since we last spoke, the club has made it to the Harrod Sport Women’s County Cup final. Would you say this was one of the main targets we set out to achieve this season?
Definitely, after the disappointment of last season we were determined to make amends. We have achieved our objective in the County Cup so far and hopefully we can put on a good performance in the final.
It’s another Carrow Road fixture for the squad – how exciting is that for everyone at the club?
Everyone at the club is really excited, especially with the support we are getting from the football community in Norfolk. The players are so appreciative and can’t wait to hopefully show a really big crowd how good they are and put in a good performance.
We’re back at The Nest for our first home league game since February. How important has the crowd for the girls this season?
The girls love playing at The Nest and the crowd always gives the girls a boost. I think this shows in the way they play and the energy the crowd gives them.
Next up we have Chesham United, who are second bottom, but happened to be our first loss of the season. What do we take from our previous fixture against them this season to get a result today?
This league is probably the most competitive it has ever been, and with only 10 teams left in the division the gap between the top and bottom ends of the league isn’t that big. We know they are a dangerous team, so we will look at their threats and make sure we have a plan to counter them and be a threat to them.
It’s very tight mid-table, where one win can flip the standings completely. What are you hoping we can achieve by the end of the season?
We need to make sure that we are competitive in every game and we keep learning, and growing as a squad. Every game we have now until the end of the season is important and so we need to focus on how we play and hopefully it will be a really positive end to the season.