[Official Site] Women: Donoghue Magnanimous in Defeat

John Donoghue issues instructions from the touchline


PUBLISHED
15:27 20th February 2014
by James Hilsum
Albion women head coach John Donoghue was magnanimous in defeat after last night’s result against Portsmouth.He told seagulls.co.uk, “Portsmouth deserved to win; I thought their game management was better than ours and they had a steely determination to make sure they got to the ball quickly.
“We played the better football, but they managed the game better than us.”
“The younger players had a really good attitude to the game and a real aggression to their play. There was a bit of naivety at times, which happens sometimes, and it’s up to us as coaches to educate them.”
“We needed to be a bit more confident in what we did collectively. I will now see which players reacted well after this result. It’s easy to win 4-0 (against Plymouth) when you have 70% of possession, but now you look at which players will stand up and be counted.”
Albion were also hit by the news of Cally Beaumont’s injury; the centre-back could spend several weeks out of action after suffering ankle ligament damage.
Donoghue added, “Once the swelling has gone down then we’ll be able to assess the extent of the injury, but it will be between three and six weeks.
Up next for the Seagulls is the visit of Worthing Town at Withdean this Sunday, 1:30pm kick-off in the Sussex Challenge Cup semi-finals and Donoghue will look to rotate his squad at the weekend.
“Worthing will offer us a different test; it will probably give us a chance to rest a few players because a lot of them have played two lots of 90 minutes in four days.
“They’re part-time footballers who haven’t been able to rest and recuperate as much as they would have liked, but that’s what you’ve got to do both mentally and physically.”
There is free entry for all season-ticket holders and children under-16, while admission for non-season ticket holders is £2.




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