Smith hoping that Bristol City have learnt lessons from opening day defeat to Leicester City | OneFootball

Bristol City head coach Lauren Smith hopes that her side have learnt lessons from their opening day defeat to Leicester City when the two sides contest the reverse fixture at The King Power Stadium on Sunday.

The Foxes were Bristol City’s first Barclays Women’s Super League opponents in almost two-and-a-half years when the two sides met at Ashton Gate back in early October. Despite taking the lead, Bristol City were unable to contain Leicester City that day and they eventually slipped to a 4-2 defeat.

Bristol City face an important reunion with Leicester City this weekend before taking on Brighton & Hove Albion in another key fixture after the international break. Head coach Smith is hoping that her side show that they have learnt lessons from losses earlier in the season.

“We’ve been looking forward to the second half of the season to re-play the teams that we lost out to in almost naive ways,” Smith said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.

“I think we were so fresh-faced coming into Leicester at home in the first game of the season. Hopefully, we have learnt some lessons and are harder for them to play against. The same goes for Brighton after the break, we were so close there and it went down to the dying minutes. That game in particular still hurts us because we were so close to a point and it changes so many things around us.

“Ultimately, the next two games that we play, we want to get our teeth stuck into them and we want to have a real go. Things also change in and around you. The next few games and weekends are going to be key to what the end starts looking like. We are still in that run of cup finals, just because we got a point in one [against Aston Villa], it doesn’t change anything for us.”

Going on to discuss Leicester City, Smith said that she expects her side to come up against an aggressive team that have thrived under the leadership of former Bristol City boss Willie Kirk.

She said “Willie has recruited really well. He’s brought some really good players into the fold since this time last year. He’s had three windows now where he’s made huge recruitment choices to strengthen that squad. You can see that in each window, he’s made them stronger which allows them to play really expansive football.

“They’re a really attacking team that want to outscore you. They’re also quite transitional in terms of trying to get in behind, they’re gritty and they’re hard to play against.

“When we played them in the first game of the season, they managed the game very well and he has got them playing how he wants them to play. They’re a strong team in that middle of the league group.”

Bristol City’s Barclays Women’s Super League fixture at Leicester City kicks-off at 3pm on Sunday afternoon.