Walsall Women Manager Steve Guest has been pleased with how his team have developed more resilience this season.
The team have made a strong start to their West Midlands Regional League Division One campaign with two wins out of two.
Their most recent outing came against Coventry City on Sunday 17th September as an audacious free-kick by Phoebe Smith from 45-yards out and Mia Fellows’ strike put the Saddlers in a commanding position at half time.
Hosts Coventry pulled one back but Walsall stood firm and defended their lead to take home three points.
Guest was delighted with how the players managed the game in the second half to ensure they secured the victory but he admitted they had to withstand some late pressure.
“It was very nervy near the end,” said Guest.
“Coventry are a good team, well-structured and they came out in the second half to try and get back into the game and even win it but the girls managed the game well.
"They cleared their lines when they needed to, played when they needed to and took everything on board. In the first half, we could have been five up at half-time but it ended up being two with some decisions not going our way.
“It was a great free-kick from Phoebe for the first one and Mia’s finish just before half-time put us in a good position.
“They changed shaped and freshened things up and we dug in deep. If we played them last season and that happened, I think we would have lost the game but the girls showed good resilience and game management to get us over the line.”
Attention turns to another league outing this Sunday against Port Vale Women at Rushall Olympic’s Dales Lane (2.30pm kick-off).
Vale have also made a 100 per cent start to the season and Guest expects them to be challenging at the top end of the table and give provide his team with a tricky challenge.
“It’s going to be a really tough game,” he commented.
“They’ve brought in some decent players from leagues above, they’re ambition this season is to get promotion, like it should be with a fair few teams in our league. Each have got their own strengths and have improved on their weaknesses from last season.
“You look at Vale’s games so far, they won 5-2 against a team that beat Darlaston 8-1 the week before so it shows they’ve brought in quality and they’re going to be up there challenging.
“I think it’s going to be a tight game. We’ve picked up some injuries and illnesses so we’ll be assessing that before the game but hopefully we’ll go as strong as we can and aim, as we always do, to try and get three points.”
Admission for Sunday’s match is £2 for Adults and £1 for Concessions. Walsall FC season ticket holders can attend for free if they show their digital or physical season ticket card at the turnstiles on arrival.