Manager Chloe Brown reflects on the start of the campaign for the Women's team.
With Posh Women not back in FA Women’s National League action until early December, we spoke to manager Chloe Brown to look back on the start of the season and how the players are adapting to a tougher league.
The Women currently sit in tenth place, two points from safety and have played one game fewer than the majority of the teams around them. Despite being the new faces of the division, Brown believes the squad are slightly disappointed to have not picked up more points after showing their ability to compete in this league.
“Coming into this season, we would have taken a mid-table finish as success and looked at our results as being good for a team stepping up. Now, we have seen the level in this league and the quality we know we can bring as a team, I think the results have been slightly disappointing as we know that we can do so much better. There are a number of reasons why the results aren't going the way we want. Experience is possibly one of those reasons, but hopefully, that's one we can build on as the season goes on.”
“It is important to put things into perspective, though. We have played against the tougher teams so far, with the bulk of our games away from home. We know that we can put in strong performances and start getting results over the next few league games.”
It has very much been a transition season for Brown's side - not only competing in the National League for the first-ever time but also welcoming a host of new faces into the squad, including Brown, who was installed as manager in the summer.
So, it’s fair to say that the opening few months of the campaign has been a learning experience for all players involved, but Brown believes the players are slowly adapting to the league after learning the hard way in the opening eight games.
“They're starting to realise that this league is very different to previous campaigns. In this league, if they make a mistake, they will get punished for it. We need to maintain concentration and our high performance for the whole 90 minutes of a game, something we have had to learn the hard way so far.
“If we can nail that, then we have a great chance to push on in this league as we have such quality in the squad and have shown that we can match many of the top teams in this league, but concentration levels need to be maintained for 90 minutes now.”
Meanwhile, the Posh Women have appointed Dan Lawlor as the club’s new assistant manager. Anthony Rigby has also been appointed as first team coach.