BREWERS Manager Kristian Gilbert described Burton Women’s upcoming match against Bedworth United as ‘huge’ as the Brewers return to action.
Following three weeks of no games, Burton will take on basement side Bedworth United in a important clash in the relegation race on Sunday.
A 2-1 win over Holwell Sports had put an end to a run of five straight league defeats, and Gilbert hopes his side will be able to keep that standard of performance up despite the three-week break.
“When you get that win you want to keep the momentum going, and it’s been a shame that we’ve not been able to do that – not in a match anyway, in training we have been.”
With their opponents sitting just behind them in the league, Gilbert was also keen to stress the weight of the game, and how it could affect the Brewers for the rest of the season.
“It sets us and them up for the rest of the season. We performed really well in the cup game, they’ve recruited since and they were much stronger in the league. If we win it takes us up and out of the bottom four and takes us seven or eight points above Bedworth so that’ll be the ideal situation.”
“If it goes the other way round it then becomes really tight around the bottom. It’s a massive game, we know that we don’t need to tell the players that. Every game’s a big game, but especially when you’re playing the closest team around you.”
One such player, Ciara Fray proved that this message wasn’t lost on the players
“Oh we need to beat them 100%. We need to stay away from the bottom as much as we can, and no matter who we play against, that should be the aim.”
The Burton defender is aware of just how tight the league is this season, and that any game should be looked at as a chance to pick up points, but also be wary of the opponents.
“I think we need to go more with the mentality that we’re playing top of the league every game rather than bottom of the league and thinking it’s going to be a breeze when that’s not the case of how close some of the games have been. We’ve beaten some of the top teams, and then lost to some of the bottom teams so it just shows how close everything can
be.”
Nonetheless, Gilbert and his side will certainly be looking to take all three points on Sunday by taking the game to Bedworth, “We want to play on the front foot as much as we can and play in their half as much as we can. We’ve been frighteningly good at attacking in training this week, and that’s what we’ve been working on just attacking as much as we can.”
The Brewers kick off at 2pm on Sunday 12 th December to see if they can seal a vital three
points against Bedworth United.