West Brom failed to recover from derby set backs says boss
Albion boss Siobhan Hodgetts-Still felt her side became unsettled once Wolves opened the scoring in a one-sided Black Country derby.
The Baggies were thumped 8-0 by their arch-rivals in front of a 2,000-strong crowd at The Hawthorns and the home head coach reckons her side, who maintained parity until the 27th minute, failed to cope with falling behind.
“The first 30 minutes were organised and we looked like we knew our roles,” Hodgetts-Still said. “Maybe the first goal unsettled us a bit. Then we were not organised or communicating and good teams like Wolves will punish us. They did that and scored some really good goals, some from our mistakes as well.”
Albion were solid in the opening moments of the second half, too, when 4-0 down. Wolves did not add to the margin until 20 minutes after the interval, when the home players once again struggled.
Hodgetts-Still stressed the response to Sunday’s rout was the all important factor. “There were a few home truths, but for me there’s no point doing too much now,” she added. “Everyone is hurting and emotions will run high. It’s time to spend time with families and recover and we’ll look at it on Tuesday after we’ve had more time to reflect.
“Most coaches have been in this situation and it’s what you do next which I think is important. We have to figure out where it went wrong, look at our shape in the moments we did well and look at if a goal does go in then how do we regroup and come together to make sure today doesn’t happen again.”
