Aaron D’Antino stepped in for Joe Montemurro on Sunday, as we ran out 3-0 winners over Reading at Adams Park.
Montemurro was suffering from illness and opted not to travel, but that didn’t stop his side from delivering a professional performance against the Royals.
We spoke to assistant manager D’Antino after the final whistle - and this is what he said:
on the fast start…
It was just about the best start we could have had, but I think the biggest thing is coming away and getting a great result at a difficult place. There’s no better way to come back from defeat by tackling the game head on. It was always going to be a big challenge, so to come away with three points and a clean sheet thanks to a gutsy performance is very encouraging. It’s great for our momentum.
on offering Reading no way in…
That’s always a very important part of the game for us. If you keep a clean sheet then you’ve already got half a chance of winning. We did this last time we played them by switching to a back three, so we were all very confident in this system. We haven’t played in this formation for a little bit, but we adjusted very well and the girls were excellent in terms of covering each other. We offered them very little and they only seemed to threaten us on set pieces, so I’m very proud of them. Dom played a big role by dropping into the defence to make it a back four when possible too, so all in all, I’m very pleased.
on Little getting back on the scoresheet…
It’s great for her confidence and once again, she’s managed to get another 90 minutes under her belt since returning from injury.
on Montemurro’s absence…
I’m hoping he’s feeling better after that, hopefully it was the medicine he needed! He actually said to me on Monday that he doesn’t feel too well and he felt like he was coming down with something, and then I didn’t see him for the rest of the week after that! Hopefully he’s back on board by next week, but there was just no point in risking it this week. It was best for him to stay away. The staff here have been brilliant and everyone’s dug deep this week, so it’s a great result.
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