BURTON Albion’s Emmalee Hornsby insisted that the Brewers still have winning momentum going into Sunday’s FA Women's National League Division One Midlands against Bedworth United.
It has been more than three weeks since their stoppage-time victory against Holwell Sports on November 17, Albion's first win in the league since the third game of the season.
The Brewers thought they would have just over two weeks to prepare for their home clash against eighth-placed Wem Town. However, on the morning of their first fixture in 18 days, the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch.
And ahead of Sunday's planned return to action, striker Hornsby is not only looking forward to the return to action but believes the break had a positive impact.
“It’s exciting,” said Hornsby. “With having such a long time off it’s good because we’ve been able to rest injuries, and everyone feels fresh so it’s good to have a rest but also everyone’s waiting for game day now.
“I’d probably say there’s more [momentum] because everyone’s been rested, and everyone’s been training hard.
“Especially this week, everyone’s just buzzing for the game. The momentum is so high I think we’re looking forward to hopefully getting a result.”
Albion's recent win saw them beat Holwell thanks to a last-minute winner from Hornsby, who came off the bench to grab the decisive goal.
It was the first time the Brewers had been victorious in all competitions in four games, with the former Derby County player also grabbing a late winner against Mansfield Town in the FA Cup and their first in the league since beating Long Eaton United 3-1 away from home on August 25.
Reflecting on that win, Hornsby said: “We finally got the result everyone’s been working hard for, so it was a bit of a reward at the end. It was nice, I would say.
“To get the winner myself, everyone else put the hard work in and I just managed to be at the right place at the right time.”
This Sunday, the Brewers face bottom of the league Bedworth. Having played the Greenbacks twice, winning in the FA Women's National League Cup and losing the most recent encounter in the league, Hornsby suggested that the Brewers need to go out and prove a point.
“I think it’s a mixture of both [revenge and stand-alone game], so we take each game as it comes,” said Hornsby. “We want to get a result out of the game, and I think we’ve got a lot to prove to ourselves and to them that they can’t just beat us.”
“The cup win shows that as well, but we’ll just play to our strengths and play our game and hopefully it all goes well on game day.”
During the season, Burton have scored six goals through substitutes, with this and the ability of the Brewers on the ball pinpointed as a particular strength.
“[Our strength is] our understanding in how we play comfortably as we can on the ball and using our strengths to our advantage, [as well as] using both the players on the pitch and the players on the bench well so we’ve got good depth in the squad.
Hornsby concluded: “There’s lots of options, so if we need to change the game, we can."
Picture by Terri Lee Photography, used with kind permission of Derby County Women FC