Spurs have had a solid opening few weeks with victories achieved over Aston Villa, London Bees and Bristol City
Sophie Mclean says Tottenham Hotspur Ladies are conscious of the task at hand in both the Women’s Super League 2 and domestic cup competitions, but points to the underlining no-fear factor that they’re attacking games with.
The Lilywhites saw defeat on the opening day against Durham, but have since recovered to see victories against Aston Villa, London Bees and most recently, FAWSL 1 Bristol City in the group stages of the Continental Tyres Cup.
And having recorded a 2-0 milestone first success against opposition from the league above, the box-to-box midfielder is quietly confident they can sustain their prowess for the foreseeable future.
“Adapting to a completely new league and understanding the way other teams work will always be a challenge, but we’ve come in and proved we deserve to be where we are,” said Mclean.
“Having new girls come in can be hard and take some time to get used to, but they’ve fitted in so well, and that’s proving from our performances.
“Credit to the coaches for signing girls that suited our style of play and personality of the squad dynamic.
“Our very first performance was probably one of the best we’ve played this season, showing the score doesn’t always reflect the way we perform, but we’ve taken the positives from that and delivered in the following league and continental cup games.
“Winning against a tough Super League 1 side shows the work we put in both on and off the pitch.”
Mclean went on to allude to the instilled philosophy that Karen Hills’ side have within the squad – and says they have enough belief and quality in their own game to place themselves in a position to be successful.
She continued: “We like to take both the positives and negatives from our own individual performances, working on our weaknesses so we’re able to improve within ourselves.
“Working too much on the opposition can be quite overwhelming, so it’s important to keep the focus on our previous games so we’re ready to work hard in training, ready for our next challenge.
“At this stage of our progression, as a team we can’t afford to carry players, which is why having such a big squad of girls which can be switched regularly and still perform at such a high standard is so important - and that was shown against Bristol, with 5 changes to the starting line up.
“From the back line to the front, we all work so hard for each other, with every player hugely contributing to our final results.”
Spurs return to league action when they travel to Watford on October 29, and the ever-impressive mainstay says they’re doing everything possible to nullify any physical hurdles that will be coming their way.
“Every game and every team brings different challenges to us and we are well aware of the physical challenges that are present at this level,” she added.
“There has been a greater focus on our overall conditioning throughout pre-season and all the girls have certainly worked hard with our new strength and conditioning coach, Elliot (Ferguson-Dillon) to make sure that we can compete on every level across the whole season.
“We have confidence in ourselves and as with every game, whilst we are aware of the challenges; we by no means fear them.”
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