The Scott Rogers column: Why our supporters are the best

We made it five games unbeaten with last weekend’s 2-0 victory against Reading Women and it was another important win. It wasn’t our best performance but we know that and we know what we have to work on. The main thing was picking up the three points and to continue our good run of recent form. We are just sticking to the old principle of one game at a time and then see how we fare but I have been delighted with the recent performances.

It was a nice moment for Natasha Harding to score her first goal for the club and she is a player capable of scoring plenty for us. She had gone through a little drought in front of goal but hopefully she can get a few more now. We also saw Laura Coombs scoring our second goal and I have always said how important it is to have goals coming from all areas of the team. Everybody seems to be chipping in with goals from across the pitch which is very positive for us. We are scoring goals and defensively we are looking quite solid, so we are very happy with where we are at the moment. It’s full credit to the girls who have worked really hard on the training pitch and the results seem to be going well us at the minute and long may that continue!

I know that we are five games unbeaten but that means nothing because you are only as good as your last game. We work one game at a time and we are under no illusions as to the size of our task when we host Notts County at the Select Security Stadium (kick-off 5.30pm BST). We are only too well aware that if we don’t perform to our level on Saturday then we may well be talking about no points, but the same thing applies to Notts County as well. If you don’t turn up and perform to your highest standard then usually you will get punished at this level. Back in May we lost 3-2 away at Notts County when we found ourselves 3-0 down and we also missed a penalty. Looking back we possibly should have won the game, never mind losing it. Defensively we were too open that day so we have tightened up since then and done a lot of defensive work on the training ground. We are expecting a tough challenge and they are a very tough side. They have signed two England internationals in Jade Moore and Jo Potter during the break so they have strengthened even further. We have done our homework, we know what we are up against and if we perform like I know we are capable of, then we will should get another positive result.

Rick Passmoor is in charge of the Notts County side and he is someone I have a lot of respect for. He knows the women’s game inside out and he has done a very good job since joining Notts County, which was proven by their two cup final appearances last season.

We will need our magnificent home supporters more than ever on Saturday and I know they will be fully behind us. They were absolutely brilliant during the win over Reading and in the three years I have been here that is probably the loudest they have ever been. The impact that they have on our team is massive and although I know football can be frustrating sometimes, our supporters always fully get behind the team. They are different class and I can’t praise them enough. In fact they were that loud against Reading that is was difficult to get messages across to the players from the touchline! They really are our 12th player and they can make the difference for us against Notts County.

A lot of plaudits have come the way of our left-back Alex Greenwood recently and to me that is no surprise. We knew when we signed Alex what we were getting and that is a top-class international left-back. The beauty with Alex is she doesn’t get carried away and she doesn’t get involved in the emotions of the game. She is very methodical and she is very experienced for someone so young and that rubs off on everyone else. The whole backline of Gemma Bonner, Sophie Ingle and Satara Murray alongside Alex have been excellent and for us to keep four clean sheets from our last five games has is testament to that.

Thanks as always for your continued support

Scott