Bristol City’s Lauren Smith addressed the media on Wednesday, ahead of the Robins’ upcoming Barclays Women’s Super League fixture against Aston Villa.
With her pre-match press conference falling on Deadline Day in the WSL, Smith took the opportunity to assure reporters that ‘we’ve made the additions that we planned to, and wanted to.’
The Robins have bolstered their squad shrewdly, with Shae Yañez, Lisa Evans and Sarah Stratigakis all heading to BS3.
‘I’m happy with bringing the three players in,’ explained Smith. ‘We are the squad that needs to see us through to the end of the season and win us games so that we stay up.’
It has been a difficult season for Lauren Smith’s side as they returned to the top-flight of women’s football in England after a brief absence. The Robins are the only current WSL side that is not backed financially by a Premier League outfit – but Smith’s side are managing to stay within touching distance of their relegation rivals.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere is only one relegation spot in the Barclays Women’s Super League, and it is currently occupied by Bristol City after they were defeated by West Ham United last weekend. Smith insists that her players are ‘keeping it positive in the fact that we’re still only one win away from where we already were.’
‘It’s not like anything has suddenly slipped away from us and we’re talking about being down and out,’ she continued – but accepted that things to need to change if the Robins are to avoid returning to the Barclays Women’s Championship this summer.
‘We still have to improve ourselves across all areas. I think we need to be harder to beat, harder to be scored against. A lot of those things come from our own errors still, which in a way is a positive because I don’t feel like we’re getting broken down, sliced through the middle of and absolutely played off the park.’
