Joe Montemurro made a number of tactical changes in the second half on Wednesday night, helping us to break the deadlock and secure a 3-0 win over Yeovil Town.
One of those tweaks was the introduction of Katie McCabe from the bench, who assisted twice and changed the team’s shape down the right flank.
We spoke to Montemurro after the final whistle - and this is what he said:
on the long wait for an opener...
We were looking at the videos at half-time and they were backing up and putting seven, eight or nine in one line defending the box, so we just had to remain patient to pull them out of position and stretch them. It was a professional job from the players to get the job done.
on the difficulty of breaking down a deep block...
Whoever you play in these sorts of situations it’s going to be difficult. We just had to wait and find the right moment. We created enough chances in the first half so I think we were breaking them down, it wasn’t a matter of that, it was just a matter of producing the final piece of quality.
on encouraging the players to play faster...
We needed to shift their lines a bit quicker and then we had to find different heights, because if they’re banked up with seven or eight and we’ve got seven or eight up there, it’s always going to be a situation where it’s hard to break them down. So what we had to do was go one way, shift them and then lower the players to drag them out position and find spaces. We did that and it’s something we spoke about a lot at half-time. The second half was very good.
on Little’s deflected strike…
That was always going to happen like that. I’ve seen these types of games so many times and all you need is that one moment. Kim got herself into some good positions. We took our foot of the pedal a little bit and we were able to rest some key players, so it was a good night for us.
on McCabe’s instant impact off the bench…
Katie’s had a great season and she’s a quality player. The reality is that once you’ve created a situation where Lisa Evans can go up high and Katie is coming inside, they’re not sure who to mark and this allows you to start overloading areas.
on Emma Mitchell’s absence…
She’s not right at the moment. We just need to monitor her over the next couple of days, so hopefully she’s going to be alright for the cup final.
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