Wigan Athletic Women’s Head Coach Martin Fitzsimons reflects on the late 2-1 victory at Euxton Girls
- Martin Fitzsimons | Euxton Girls (A) Reaction
- The Latics Women's Head Coach reflects on the late victory at the Buckshaw Village Community Centre
- Fitzsimons: “We had to roll our socks up and get through the game. Fortunately, we are able to do that today.”
Wigan Athletic Women’s Head Coach Martin Fitzsimons praised his side for finding a way to win a difficult game against Euxton Girls on Tuesday night.
Latics’ midweek opponents kept them honest all night, posing a real challenge to Emmerson Boyce’s team. Avagrace Hodson opened the scoring with her first for the Club, which was unfortunately cancelled out in a matter of first-half minutes.
Testament to their character, resilience and will to win, Ellie Cleary’s 85th-minute moment of magic helped Latics make it back-to-back wins in the Lancashire Women’s County League.
Speaking to Latics TV post-match, Fitzsimons expressed that the team need to take the buzz of scoring a late winner into Sunday’s clash against Blackburn Eagles.
“It was a difficult game for us,” he said.
“They came with a game plan and executed it well. Barring a little bit of magic from Ellie Cleary at the end, it could’ve been a different story.
“They made it very difficult for us to play the game that we want to play. The pitch conditions didn’t suit a possession-based playing game so we had to mix it up, and at times, we did that well.
“Other times, we had to roll our socks up and get through the game. Fortunately, we are able to do that today.
“It’s back-to-back wins now, and we’ve scored two goals in each. There is a lot of confidence and bounce - last-minute winners are always good.
“We can take that confidence, buzz and energy into the game on Sunday in front of the fans.”
Match-winner Cleary certainly picked up where she left off on Sunday, adding a further goal to her historic brace at Haslingden Ladies. Fitzsimons gave special praise to Cleary, expressing that the team is lucky to have a player of her quality in the squad.
“She (Ellie) was all over the pitch. She’s got that magic every team needs, and she is the ace in our pack at the minute. She is so confident when she gets on the ball, she’s scored a few goals and all the players are looking for her. We’re really lucky to have her.”
The only downside on the night was the unfortunate injury of Ella Schickhoff, who had to come off midway through the second half. While Fitzsimons revealed that it was too early for a full diagnosis, he said it is unlikely she will feature on Sunday.
“It’s a knee injury, and we’ll need to get her scanned. There is no real update, and she’ll probably be out for the game on Sunday, which is unfortunate.”