Victory over league rivals Dundee United prior to the festive break had the women of steel looking into the forthcoming year with confidence and optimism following a period of inconsistency, but an early Scottish Cup exit to Partick Thistle and a league defeat to Hearts have left the squad to reflect on their disappointing opening to 2024.
Misfortunes and inconsistency have continued to hinder signs of progression and positive displays in recent weeks, but defender Bailley Collins is confident that performances will soon be rewarded.
“Like every season, there have been ups and downs,” Collins said.
“There have probably been more downs than we’d have hoped for but, we’ve also had many strong performances and can take positives from most of our games so far.
“We’ve created chances that should have been capitalised on and lapses in concentration have seen teams punish our decision-making, by converting their own chances.
“It’s those split seconds that can win or lose you games and it’s those moments we are working hard to improve on and tighten up.”
Motherwell looked set to replicate their Scottish Cup successes of the previous season after cruising to an early advantage over Partick Thistle, with summer acquisition Morgan Cross securing two successive penalty kicks after being impeded twice in the Thistle penalty area.
The Dunfermline-born striker netted the first, with Collins converting the second, as Paul Brownlie’s side sought to recreate their route to Hampden Park after reaching the Semi-Final stage last season. However, Thistle netted a quickfire double moments into the second-half and a decisive fourth in the latter stages of the game to end the women of steel’s quest for silverware.
“It’s always disappointing to be knocked out of a cup early, especially when the team were so successful in the competition last season,” Collins explained.
“The game was won and lost in those moments across both halves and unfortunately we largely contributed to our own downfall. Three defensive errors cost us getting through to the next round, which is frustrating because we set ourselves high standards and we know that was nowhere near good enough.”
A frustrating note for the squad, as reflected by various results across the domestic calendar, with momentary lapses in composure undermining countless resolute performances that merited a more accurate reflection in the SWPL league table.
“Conceding goals from set-pieces have been our Achilles heel,” Collins noted.
“Recently resulting in our cup exit, but has also cost us a number of results in the league too. It’s frustrating when we defend so well as a team in open play, but when it comes to set-pieces; the opposition are too often getting the better of us.
“Our defensive structure has been good for the most part. We’ve created lots of chances, however that final decision to pass, cross or shoot, combined with composure in front of goal has undoubtably cost us points.”
With the women of steel facing a two-week hiatus from the domestic calendar before retuning to face Hibs in the capital, Collins described the next steps for the side ahead of the final set of pre-split fixtures in the 2023/2 SWPL campaign.
“The key for us is to remain positive and focused,” Collins said.
“If we keep doing what we know we are good at then the results will come. We train hard every week to better ourselves in all areas of the pitch and in all aspects of the game.
“Our aim is to pick up as many points as we can both home and away, and to finish as high up the league table as possible. We know what we are capable of and have shown that, so it’s now about finding that consistency in our performances and showing it with our results.
“The confidence we played with against Hearts we must now take into our next fixture against Hibs. Over the break we’ll keep working hard on the training pitch, we’ll focus on us and giving ourselves the best opportunity to get a positive result from what we know will be another challenging game.”
