‘Our girls did a fantastic job’ – Ditchburn proud of Durham’s efforts against Manchester City | OneFootball

Durham’s first team head coach Claire Ditchburn said that the players did everything that was asked of them in their 4-0 defeat to Manchester City in the fourth round of the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.

The Wildcats have so often provided a difficult challenge for top tier sides in cup games hosted in the North East but latest opponents Manchester City simply oozed class throughout the 90 minutes at Maiden Castle yesterday. The Cityzens broke the deadlock in the seventh minute and they never looked back from that point, adding three further goals to their tally and preventing Durham from showing even the slightest glimpse of their own iconic identity.

It was a case of Manchester City playing exceptionally well rather than Durham playing poorly and when speaking to the media after the match, head coach Ditchburn couldn’t fault The Wildcats’ brave efforts.

“They’re unbelievable players, they’re probably the best that’s out there,” Ditchburn said. “Our girls did a fantastic job, they never let their heads drop, they did everything we asked of them and more. It was just a really thankless, difficult job at times.

“We will take a lot from this game and we will learn from playing against this calibre of player.”

While Durham couldn’t get close to Manchester City in the first half, their best spell arguably came early in the second period when they temporarily reduced their opponents’ relentless attacks. Ditchburn said that the message at half-time was to have no regrets.

She said “We all just felt as though we had done well up until that point with certain aspects but we wanted to come off the pitch knowing that we had given it our all, given a good account of ourselves and had no regrets. I think we did that in the second half.”

The Maiden Castle attendance record was smashed once again with a sizeable four-figure crowd being recorded. Ditchburn hopes that the occasion will help bring more supporters through the gates in the coming months.

“It has been brilliant,” she said. “The buzz around the city ahead of the game was really exciting and that was taken into the day.

“The fans were fantastic, they were here in their numbers and hopefully, some of these people liked what they saw and they will come back in future weeks.”

Durham are next in action at Maiden Castle on Sunday 28 January 2024 when they face Watford. Tickets are on-sale now and can be purchased by clicking here.