Simon Parker was encouraged by Blackburn Rovers Women's level of competitiveness despite a 2-0 home defeat to Birmingham City Women.
Lucy Quinn netted a first-half double which gave Rovers a mountain to climb at half-time. The team rallied in the second-half but couldn't find a breakthrough against the league leaders, falling to defeat at Ewood Park.
Quinn put the visitors ahead on nine minutes, meeting Ashanti Akpan’s ball in the box to steer beyond Alex Brooks. 15 minutes later, that advantage was doubled as Tegan McGowan put the forward through on goal and she made no mistakes.
That put the beyond reach for Rovers but Parker was still encouraged by the response after the interval against the division's top side.
“It’s obviously a disappointing result and the manner of the goals that we conceded were also very disappointing, but I think there were some positives," Parker reflected post-match.
“Birmingham are a really good side and there were moments that they really controlled the game, but I can’t remember Alex Brooks having too many saves to make so that’s a real positive, and there were opportunities for us as well. We hit the crossbar, had an air shot at the end, and scored a goal which was given as offside, so those things can change a game.
“We’ll learn a lot because Birmingham are one of the better teams in the league and we have competed, so if we can refine certain things and make better decisions, we can hurt teams.
“There hasn’t been a game where we haven’t been competitive, so we are on the right track but we just have to get that belief.”
The result leaves Rovers ninth in the standings, ahead of Sheffield United and Portsmouth. Next up is a trip to Charlton next weekend.
Blackburn Rovers Women: Brooks, Murphy, Taylor, Hack (Johnson 45), Dugdale (Noble 84), Newell, Toland ©, Dahou, Williams (Davies 84), Edwards, Primmer (Walters 62), Edwards (Crompton 62)
Subs not used: Soper, Luke, Settle, Clarkson
