County Ladies’ superb four-game winning run came to an end on Sunday afternoon, in a difficult day for the first-team away at Barnsley.
County went into the game at Oakwell just three points behind league leaders, Middlesborough, but came unstuck after a disappointing performance at Oakwell.
Manager, Steve O’Hara shares his thoughts on the game:
“Sunday was a really disappointing day at the office for us as we travelled across the Pennines to Barnsley, who were yet to win a league game following their promotion last season.
“The game was played at Oakwell and we thought that would really suit our game. We had lots of early possession as we moved the ball round with ease, but we never looked like a danger to the opposition.
“The hosts took the lead from our corner, catching us on the counter-attack, but I feel we have to be smarter at times and maybe take a foul on the halfway and stop the flow.
“We had chances to equalise from Fran and Gemma, but both bit missed the target from close range.
“1-0 down at half-time, we spoke about how we needed to be more aggressive in the second half. We started well enough in that regard and should have been level from a corner, a free header for Liv Wilson, but we failed to hit the target.
“That proved costly as the hosts doubled their lead, again from our own set-piece in a throw-in that led to us losing control of the ball, and the Barnsley player hit one from 25 yards into the top corner.
“The game felt out of reach from that point on and Barnsley secured all three points with a long range free-kick, again into the top corner of Lucy’s net.
“We did have a goal ruled out for offside late on, but that was as close as we got to any real threat for the whole afternoon.”
“It was a very disappointing result, particularly as we had won our last four games, and one that we will have to really work hard this week to get out of our system as we prepare for what is a huge FA Cup game against Chorley this Sunday at Euxton Villa.
A huge thanks once again to the travelling fans, and I’m sure they will all be there in support again this week where we will look to make it up to them.”
