Robins Programme - Bristol City Women v Southampton Women

C
ity
Women will be aiming to continue their winning
momentum and stern defensive displays this weekend when
they take on the Saints in BS3.
The opening three rounds have
proved fruitful for points (9), but
another pleasing aspect will be
that the Reds haven’t conceded a
goal in 270 minutes of Barclays
Championship football.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s
showdown at Ashton Gate,
goalkeeper Fran Bentley reflected
on the first three rounds and
echoed the playing group’s
excitement to be back at Ashton
Gate
“We’re excited! Ashton Gate is
a great place to play, we really
enjoyed the two games last season
with the atmosphere the fans
created,” she said.
“We want clean sheets just as
much as we want goals so to have
started with three wins and three
clean sheets is pleasing for us as a
group. The challenge now is can we
push on and keep that going.”
Bentley made her switch to the
West Country a permanent one this
summer, signing from Manchester
United after a successful loan-spell
which saw the goalkeeper awarded
City’s Young Player of the Year
“It was great fun! These
opportunities are rare for keepers
in the women’s game, and it was
really enjoyable.
“The focus of the session was onev-one,
blocking and spreading your
body and that’s been an area of my
game that I have realty wanted to
focus on.
“With their experiences and that
being such strong part of Dan’s
(Bentley) game it was so good to
get the little bits of insight and
information from him when we
were going through the session.”
Bentley believes that City face their
toughest test yet in the newlypromoted
Saints, who got the
better of the Robins at St Mary’s
last season in Fourth Round of the
Vitality Women’s FA Cup.
“I think we’re going to be continually
challenged throughout the season
and this weekend Southampton will
bring a different challenge to what
we have faced so far. They bring
a threat through their attacking
transitions and they can be direct
when they need to be.”
“I’m loving it. With my experience
here last season it was what I really
wanted to do. It’s been great so far
and I’m looking forward to the rest
of the season.”
In the build-up to the Robins’ clash
with Southampton both Fran
Bentley and Liv Clark were involved
in a joint session with City men’s
Dan Bentley and Stefan Bajic, led by
First team Goalkeeper Coach Pat
Mountain.
THE ROBINS SOUTHAMPTON WOMEN >11