Four points from four games is not a reflection of the performances Watford Women have put in since they returned to the Championship.
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at home to Blackburn saw them dominate for long spells, create the best chances and force a string of saves and blocks.
However, they head into the international break with a timely reminder that performances have to be turned into points, even if the Rovers defeat was a tough one to take.
“It’s very frustrating. We’ve created more than enough to win the game and we restricted them in the first half to next to nothing,” said head coach Damon Lathrope.
“We just needed to have that little bit on the end of the final pass or the final finish to make our good play count.
“Football is about winning games, and fair play to Blackburn because they took their chance and held on.”
Blackburn are second in the table, yet they came to face a newly-promoted side and were happy to put bodies behind the ball throughout the game.
“We knew we’d be up against a well-organised, hard to beat side, and it can be tough to break those units down,” said Lathrope.
“You’re probably not going to get 10 or 12 chances, but you are looking at two or three really good chances and then you have to make them count.
“We had some really good passages of play, got in some really good areas but a combination of not quite having that final finish and some really good goalkeeping meant we came out on the wrong side of it.”
Rovers are a physically imposing side, and they were not scared to make use of that.
“They are quite physical, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t have any problems with it,” Lathrope admitted.
“We are the opposite which is probably why the game panned out the way it did. They wanted to impose their strength on us and we didn’t want to make it a fight.
“It’s important that we compete when we need to compete, but not turn it into a fight. Big teams like that will probably get the better of us if we do.”
The winning goal – a looping header from a corner – took what seemed an age to drop into the net. There wasn’t a Watford player guarding the back post, which presumably is something the team would normally do?
“Yeah we do, and I’m not pointing any fingers because none of us are perfect, but we have two players on two posts normally. We learn from things,” said Lathrope.
“We’ll watch it back, we’ll learn and we’ll make sure next time we head that off the line.”
The Championship now pauses for a fortnight due to an international break
“Personally I’d like another game, because I feel the group are in a good place and producing good performances,” said Lathrope.
“I don’t feel we’re getting what we deserve at the moment.
“However, that being said it’s a nice opportunity to get some players back to fitness, rest a few little knocks and also give players the chance to switch off from football for a few days.
“They’ve got a really tough shift doing what they do for us, so we’ll try and maximise the different opportunities the international break offers us.”
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