Vicky Jepson on ‘individual errors’ against United

Vicky Jepson felt that individual errors cost us in Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester United in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Leah Galton, Alessia Russo and Nikita Parris were all on the scoresheet as we struggled to keep the league leaders at bay.

“The best team won today,” our Interim Head Coach said. “Leigh Sports Village is a tough place to come when it’s packed with United fans, we knew that. 

“I thought we showed good fight in areas and frustrated them for 30 minutes. Individual errors gave them an opportunity to get ahead in the game, but we created an opportunity early on that, if it went in, would’ve been a game changing moment, but we couldn’t quite find the back of the net. 

“For the majority of the game, we were dominated by United’s strength on the ball. You can’t have marginal errors when you’re playing against top of the league way from home.

“The chances we had, they’re fine margins that can change the game. When those moments occur we have to make sure we can finish them calmly, which we have done in recent weeks, so I’m not worried about then. Then, just tidy up on individual errors, the build from the back that cost us. The set-piece, we left two-v-one at the back and have got to fix that. 

“It was a fight until the very end and we weren’t defeatist. Even at 3-0, some people can give up but we kept fighting. We’ve got to rest and recover now and focus on our next two big games against Reading and West Ham.

“We’ve managed to give people an opportunity on the pitch today. Everyone needs to feel a part of it. Ramona Petzelberger came on today, who hasn’t played since September. It’s important that the subs feel a part of it. We’ve got a full squad fit, ready and healthy to compete in these last two games.”