Coventry City Ladies manager Paul Cudby feels that despite his side's 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday, a turn in form is around the corner.
’I think at the moment it's a number of small factors including a lack of confidence’’ Cudby admitted. ‘’We managed to keep a number of clean sheets early on last season, but we've not really been able to name the same back four in successive weeks recently, for one reason and another.’’
He continued: ‘’It's something that we're working very hard on, and it'll keep improving, hopefully we can get a little luck between now and then too.’’
There has been a stark contrast between the performances before and after the half-time break for Coventry this season. A staggering 10 of the 12 league goals conceded have come in the second-half of games, including conceding a last-minute winner against Leeds United, two second-half goals in the loss to Manchester City and three in the defeat to league leaders Sunderland. However, Cudby believes that a turn in form is just around the corner.
‘’It is disappointing to lose in that manner, and it's disappointing for the players too, we're all hurting and desperately want to put it right and turn things around. I genuinely believe that we're one or two results away from getting that win that will kick start a run of form, it'll breed a little bit of confidence, and I think it could build a great middle and last part of a league campaign.’’
Coventry City travel to North London next week to take on Barnet, who are currently rooted to the bottom of the league, having picked up just two points from a possible 15 in this campaign. The Sky Blues themselves have just one league win in five league games – a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth in September – but the Coventry boss has no doubts that his side will get back to winning ways when the teams meet at Underhill on Sunday.
‘’I think the last few performances have shown that things are improving. The girls are playing some good football, trying to play the right way and creating plenty of chances, we just haven’t taken as many as we would have hoped. I don’t think we’ve had a whole deal of luck, when on reflection last season; we had a fair bit of luck early on in the campaign which helped. However, I’ve got no doubts that these girls will pull through and pick up for another performance next week against Barnet.’’
Pictures from the game can be seen by clicking on http://www.flickr.com/photos/wren-media/sets/72157631834733432/