Reflecting on Chesterfield FC Women’s emphatic 4-1 away victory at Notts County Development on Sunday afternoon, manager Andrea Parkinson gave her thoughts on the game.
She said: “I think the first ten minutes, both teams were quite nervous. The game was very frantic. But we got an early goal which helped settle things down a little bit.
“The game kind of took its head when we scored, but then Notts County kept attacking and unfortunately, we brought their striker down in the box.”
After County equalised from the spot, the Spireites went down the other end with an instant response.
“I think if it stayed 1-1 for longer the game might have been slightly different but all the players reacted really well to getting a goal conceded,” said Andrea.
“At 2-1, we settled down and got a third goal before half time. In the second half we made a couple of changes due to players tiring and a couple of knocks. It was a physical game but we saw the game out.”
Clashes between the Magpies and the Spireites are always ones to keep an eye on, and this fixture was no different.
“There were a couple of naughty challenges and you could tell that it had the local derby feel to it, which was good.
“To walk away after beating Notts County on their patch as well was delightful.
“I think the squad’s really settling down and when things are going well, that helps the team gel a little bit quicker.
“But we’re going to have tough games coming up, especially over the next few weeks, so that’ll really test the character of the team and hopefully we’ll kind of march on the way that we have been doing.”
After a positive start to the season, Andrea looked forward to some tough fixtures on the horizon.
“This Sunday, we’re playing Arnold Town at Shirebrook,” she commented. “Arnold Town have been established for a long time and have played higher up in the league as well, so that’ll be a test.
“The week after, we’ve got Rotherham away in the next round of the FA Cup who are a league above.
“The next couple of weeks are quite tricky but again we’ll take each game as it comes, do the training prep that we’ve been doing over the last few weeks and go and give them a game and hopefully the result will be on our side.”
