“It’s an opportunity to test ourselves” – Morris ahead of cup clash with Villa | OneFootball

Ella Morris is ‘excited’ ahead of our return to Women’s League Cup action on Saturday as we face Aston Villa at Brisbane Road (12.15pm UK).

Having won our opening game of the group phase last month, beating Charlton 2-1 at The Valley thanks to a late winner from Jess Naz, a positive result this weekend will see us go one step closer to securing qualification for the knockout rounds.

This will also be our second encounter with Villa already this season having met in the Barclays Women’s Super League back in September, with Eveliina Summanen and Bethany England on the scoresheet as the points were shared at Villa Park in a 2-2 draw.

The 22-year-old, who made her competitive debut in our colours in the trip to Chelsea last month, is hoping to rebuild momentum ahead of the final few games of the calendar year.

Looking ahead to the clash in the Women’s League Cup, Ella said: “We’re excited, it’s an opportunity to test ourselves again.”

“Cup competitions are always exciting and you saw the team success last season in these games, that’s something we really want to push towards, but Aston Villa are a good opposition so we are just excited to go out there and have a good game.”

Reflecting on our previous clash with Villa, she added: “It was a tough result for us as we could have come away with a win then, so we’re eager to put that right after the draw against them.

“But we also had some bad results, so it’s a good opportunity for us to go in and really push for a win, build that momentum once again.”

The defender was asked about the mentality in the group following a tough run of results in recent weeks, with Ella praising her team-mates and the staff group for maintaining the togetherness within the squad.

“We’ve done really well with it,” Ella explained. “The close-knit group of girls we have got is so good in terms of our togetherness, we have stuck together.

“For me, the group of girls has been instrumental in it but also the staff, working with our psychologist, she has been absolutely brilliant, giving us pieces of advice but also getting us together in a group and helping us understand our feeling process, putting it in the bin and moving on.”

Ella also received a call-up to the England Under-23s squad earlier this week, the first time she has been named in the Young Lionesses while in our colours, and, after missing the last international break due to injury, she is looking forward to returning to the international stage.

“It’s really exciting to be back with them,” she said. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them last season, getting work with some really good players and also a really good staff group there, Emma Coates is a brilliant manager.

“I’m just looking forward to being back around the girls and building on performances from last year and the performances they had from the last camp.”