Dan McNamara was disappointed to lose at Newcastle United, but concedes that the league leaders proved the level they’re at on Sunday.
Despite the 3-0 defeat, manager McNamara says he is proud of the performance put in by his side and has focused on the positives taken from the game ahead of Sunday’s big FA Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion.
On the difference between the sides
“It’s hard. 3-0 is never a scoreline you want to be on the other end of. It’s disappointing where we’re at.
“It’s tough to take because we’ve been there fighting at the top and now a bit of reflection from everybody around.
“We can’t compete at that level now, and I’m not talking player for player because I think we’ve got superb players in that dressing room.
“The way they move the ball, the intensity in which they play at, the physicality – you can see it’s full-time footballers against people who’ve got to go back to school, back to the military, back to being a physio tomorrow.”
On being proud
“No excuses from me. I thought Newcastle are fantastic. People have been telling me they’re this, they’re that. Well, they’re outstanding.
“I’m really proud of the girls. That’s a big thing to take away from it, I thought they applied themselves really well.
“We were excellent, we gave it our best, but it was no match for what Newcastle brought today.”
On the positives
“Skye Owen’s got 35 minutes there which I think she’ll learn so much from. She probably struggled at times with the speed of the game, which is fine – that’s why we’ve brought her back in, because we want her to improve and experience that.
“She’ll benefit hugely from that because I thought she had some really nice moments.
“There are plenty of other positives. I thought Liv (Fergusson) was really sharp when she came on and I thought she was fantastic.”
On facing Brighton on Sunday
“We’ve got to keep using all the resources that we can and we look forward to Brighton next weekend.
“We’ll try and make a good memory, apply ourselves in the right way and hopefully we can enjoy the day and who knows in the FA Cup.”
