It was a case of mixed emotions on Sunday, with a bumper attendance of 465 at Berkhamsted seeing Watford Ladies lose 4-2 to Yeovil Town.
“We’re obviously disappointed, we’ve come out of the game with nothing and it’s a slow start that’s cost us again,” said manager John Salomon. “We’ve got to start performing from the off, we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb. The players reacted really well, I thought we finished the half strongly. We were fairly decent second half in patches but we’ve got to get to a stage where we’re performing consistently for 90 minutes.”
The Golden Girls had to make a late adjustment to their starting 11, with Emily Heaslip ruled out just before kick-off.
“Losing your captain in the warm-up is always going to have an impact,” explained Salomon. “It’s a shame for Emily, she’s been a real consistent performer for us this season and is a good leader on the pitch for the girls.”
“It’s a very young side but she’s one of the more experienced players, so to lose her in the warm-up was disappointing. Vanna [Lee] has come in and done very well to be fair, she’s not used to playing at this level so she got to half-time and then we decided to get fresh legs on. We came out second half with a slightly different set-up and then with about fifteen minutes to go changed the shape again and ultimately got one goal back from doing that.”
While it might not have been an ideal day on the pitch, it certainly was off it, with a remarkable crowd backing Salomon’s side on.
“The fans were great, there was loads of noise,” he said. “Yeovil had their two drummers and we had the 1881 guys who made for a fantastic atmosphere and really got behind us throughout.
“There was a special offer for Watford season ticket holders, a lot of work has gone on behind the scenes to get a crowd in. It’s a shame we haven’t been able to give them a win but with six goals and a penalty, it was quite an entertaining game for the neutral or the first-timer. Every attendance we’ve had so far has been considerably above last season’s average. Off the pitch we’re moving the club in the right direction.”
