Coventry United Women assistant manager Sian Osmond has faith that the club can bounce back next season following their relegation from the Barclays Women’ Championship.
The West Midlands side travelled to the Dripping Pan to face Lewes Women, knowing that defeat could see them relegated to the FA Women’s National League.
Coventry suffered an early set back in the match, conceding against the run of play, but they fought back to claim a 1-1 draw.
Despite earning their first draw of the season, Coventry were unable to avoid the drop with results elsewhere going against them.
Although Osmond is disappointed with the relegation, she has been quick to praise the efforts of the players this season.
She said: “Obviously we’re really disappointed with the relegation. It was definitely something that was difficult to come to terms with, as we were really pleased with how competitive we were against a really good Lewes side.
Coventry United Women celebrate their equaliser against Lewes.
(Credit: Lewis Taylor)
“ I think we’ve definitely had a good go at it during the second half of the year and its disappointing to still be in a situation where we are relegated, but of course we are proud of the efforts the players have put in. It’s unfortunate that we haven’t quite done enough to get ourselves over the line and retain our league status, but the girls in terms of their work rate and effort can't be faulted because they’ve been superb this year.
“It was unfortunate that the results elsewhere didn’t go in our favour, but now we’ve got to focus on the remaining games. I want to thank the supporters for their time and effort this year, as they’ve been fantastic and have been our 12th player on the pitch every week.”
Coventry have been glued to the bottom of the league for the majority of the season and are yet to win a game away from home.
The club have won just two league matches with those victories coming in the second half of the season against Crystal Palace and Blackburn Rovers.
Lee Burch’s side have the worst defensive record in the league, conceding 58 goals in 19 games.
Osmond reflected on a difficult campaign.
She added: “I think our start to the season definitely did contribute to our position today and there were quite a few results that we were definitely disappointed with. We knew the second half of the season was going to be difficult, but we still had that belief as group and this was important because we knew we needed to keep fighting.
“There are definitely lessons that we need to take on board for the future and we need to use this as an opportunity to develop. The National League is a competitive division and we need to be ready.
“The preparation has already started for next season in hope that we can bounce straight back up. We want to make amends.”
It is unclear if the Red and Greens will be competing in the Northern or Southern National league next season. This is likely to be decided once the league campaign has concluded.
If the club fell into the Northern Division they would face the likes of Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Burnley. Whereas if they were put in the Southern Division, they would be up against opposition such as Portsmouth, Oxford United, Ipswich Town and Watford.
Despite a difficult league campaign, Coventry had a memorable FA Cup run, beating Sunderland and Hashtag United before being eliminated from the competition by Super League side Brighton.
While Osmond believes there are positives to take from the season, she has stressed the importance of finishing the season on a high.
The assistant manager said: “Our FA Cup run was really good and we’re really proud of the girls. A lot of players have had individual success and have been asked to represent their countries, but the FA Cup run was probably the highlight of our season.
“In terms of the remainder of the season, we still want to finish off as strongly as we can and therefore be really competitive in those last two games. We remain hopeful of bouncing straight back up, so we just want to put ourselves in the best position and giving a good account of ourselves in the next two games will be crucial to that.
“When the league campaign comes to an end, there will be more of an emphasis on preparing for the summer and we remain hopeful of keeping a good group of these girls at the club. We are fully aware that we need to strengthen the squad to ensure we are fighting for promotion next year.”
Coventry return to league action on Saturday, as they host fifth-placed Southampton at Butts Park Arena.
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