Derby County Women were beaten 4-2 on home turf by West Bromwich Albion in the Determining Round of the 2023/24 FA Women's National League Cup at the Don Amott Arena on
Sunday.
Derby took the lead after 13 minutes through last season's top scorer Amy Sims after just 13 minutes but the Baggies hit back in impressive fashion through Lizzie Bennett-Steele, Mariam Mahmood and Francesca Orthodoxou's goals to lead 3-1 at the interval.
The Ewes pulled a goal back after half-time through Yasmin Mosby, her first strike since joining from Nottingham Forest in the summer, but Hannah George's late penalty secured a place in the next round for the visitors.
“I'm Really Disappointed” - Griffiths
Manager Sam Griffiths described herself as ‘really disappointed’ when assessing her side’s performance.
She felt the Ewes were far from at their best and was particularly aggrieved at the way they allowed the Baggies back into the cup tie within a minute of taking the lead.
Griffiths did, however, admit she has a group of players that are eager to learn and she believes there were be a real willingness in the squad to right the wrongs when they return to league action at Liverpool Feds on Sunday 3rd September (2pm kick-off).
She said: “I am really disappointed; it is probably the best way to sum it up.
“As it was a cup game it gave us an opportunity to look at some different things and players that haven’t played yet, but we still wanted to win and progress.
“We started really brightly and got ourselves in front, but to concede 30 seconds later and in the manner that we did was really disappointing.
“I don’t think we performed at half the intensity and the way we want to play as we did in our first league game against Wolves.
“We lost last week and I was happy, this week I’m not. We lost both games but for very different reasons.”
She added: “I can’t fault us too much in the second half, we were camped in their half and got ourselves back into it.
“We’ll look back on things, and the good things we did too, to move forward. I know this group and I know they’ll want to learn and put things right next week.”
“You Can't Put It Into Words How Good It Feels To Be Back” - Tinsley
Defender Megan Tinsley made her long-awaited comeback after over a year out of action in the cup tie.
The left-back sat out the entire 2022/23 season on medical advice relating to her heart but came through all of pre-season with no ill-effects and committed her future to the Ewes for another year in July.
She said: "You can't put it into words how good it actually feels to be out there again.
"I've got myself back up to a standard where I can last 90 minutes now. My minutes have increased gradually but I am not there yet in terms of what I was a couple of years ago. I am sure if I listen to everyone I will be as good as I was before."
On the game, she added: "We made some individual errors across the pitch as a team and we need to learn from it. We have to take it all forward into the next game and believe in ourselves."
