'A chance to raise our standards' - Vicky Jepson's Merseyside derby preview
Vicky Jepson wants tonight's Continental Cup group game with Everton to bring the best out of her Liverpool FC Women side and put the frustrations of last weekend behind them.
It was a case of two points dropped in the FA Women’s Championship on Sunday after a series of missed chances meant the Reds were held to a goalless draw at Blackburn Rovers Ladies.
A chance to go again arrives quickly, though, with Jepson’s charges making the short trip to Walton Hall Park to face the Blues in their final group game in the Continental Cup.
With a win over Manchester United followed by a defeat against Manchester City earlier in the phase, Liverpool still have hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages.
Kick-off for the Merseyside derby is 7pm GMT – and you can watch the full 90 minutes live and free across LFC’s official channels, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and LFCTV GO.
Ahead of the tie, Jepson spoke to Liverpoolfc.com about that draw at Blackburn and the chance to bounce back against Everton…
On Sunday’s goalless draw at Blackburn…
It was so frustrating and I think if we’d have still been playing until midnight we wouldn’t have scored! When you have six clean-cut chances like we did, it’s disappointing when you don’t take them. Credit to Alex Brooks in the Blackburn goal, who was incredible, but it was a very frustrating day for us. Our problem was just composure in front of goal. It’s something that we’ve had and it’s not like we don’t possess that. Some of the great saves Alex made, other ’keepers might not have done, so full credit to her. For us, it’s really disappointing because we dominated possession and created clear-cut opportunities. I have to pick those players up because they are so devastated they didn’t get the three points for the team by finding the back of the net. At the same time, at this level and in this league we’ve got to be better and we have to be coming away from these places with three points.
On being third in the FA Women’s Championship currently, just three points off leaders Durham…
We’ve got 12 games left to play now and there’s a long season still to go. Other teams are dropping points but unfortunately we are one of those teams that have dropped three points, which is something we will have to reflect on, but it could be worse and you could be walking away with no points. What we are finding in these away games is these teams all sit behind the ball and because it is Liverpool, they raise their standards an extra 10 per cent, so we have to deal with that. I thought we did against Blackburn, but it was just that missing piece of the jigsaw, which was finding the back of the net.
Free video: Heartwarming moment LFC fan consoles opposition goalkeeper
On tonight’s Merseyside derby with Everton…
We have got the derby to look forward to now and it’s a chance to raise our standards and hopefully put things right from the game against Blackburn. Derbies are always great occasions, they are great for fans, both sets of players and staff and we are looking forward to it.
On the group games so far in the Continental Cup, with a win over Manchester United followed by the loss to Manchester City…
The Continental Cup for us this season can sometimes be a little bit of a distraction from what our main aim is this season, because you are playing three games in seven days and as a club we have to prioritise the league, which is the most important thing. That’s why I played a lot of younger players against City to keep legs fresh ready to play against Sheffield United. I was absolutely delighted with the result against Manchester United and the performance. After this game against Everton we don’t play again until December 6, when we host Crystal Palace, so we will give this game everything we’ve got and see where that takes us. Would we like to come out of this group and reach the knockout stages? Yes. Would it cause me headaches? Of course it would because that means we would have more heavy fixture schedules and when you’ve got a small squad like ours it’s difficult. But these are challenges we will face when we come to that bridge. We are looking forward to Wednesday night and we will look to push on and have a reaction from Sunday’s game.