Steph Catley believes our statement win over Manchester City will provide a huge 'confidence boost' for our squad going forward in the Women's Super League.
Our Australian defender opened the scoring on Sunday afternoon - her first-time shot proving too much for Khiara Keating in goal - before Stina Blackstenius reinstated our lead in the second half.
"It feels amazing," said Catley after the game. "I think Man City have had an amazing start to the year. They're an incredible team, they move the ball so well and they're so dangerous, so for us to get all three points is massive for our season and just a really good confidence boost going forward as well."
Catley's strike was only her fourth goal for the club since arriving in north London three years ago.
"I usually score about one a year, so that might be me done. Hopefully not! But yeah, it's nice to get a goal whenever but obviously in a big game, it's important. Yeah, it feels good and just happy to get three points.
It required a huge defensive shift to keep City's notorious frontline of Lauren Hemp, Bunny Shaw and Chloe Kelly relatively quiet and see out the win under pressure.
"They're definitely one of the best frontlines in the league and they're constantly dangerous from crossing and creating opportunities, so I think you just have to sort of absorb at times.
"We knew that and we did it really well and we definitely limited them to shooting from places we were more comfortable with. It's a credit to all the defenders that stepped in there today. We probably went through our whole backline roster!"
For our three Aussies, who only returned to the UK from international duty on Friday morning, the display was even more impressive.
"It's definitely something that we've sort of gotten used to over the years. But every time you come back, it's slightly different and it's a different challenge. So we did our best out there, we gave everything and left it all out in the field. But we'll get some rest tonight, that's for sure!"
There's not long to wait before our squad returns to Meadow Park as we kick off our Conti Cup defence on Thursday night against Bristol City.
"I think the main thing is just to recover. It was a tough game and towards the end, it got really tight so we've probably got some tired legs. So it'll just be about recovering as best as we possibly can and moving on straightaway and getting ready for that game.
"It's the start of a new cup that we want to go after and we want to win so it'll be important to recover and rest up and we'll be flying for that one."
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