AFC Bournemouth Women look to keep the pressure on Cheltenham as they face Portishead Town

AFC Bournemouth Women are on the hunt for redemption following their defeat a fortnight ago that saw league leader’s Cheltenham Town go four points clear of them, with just three games to go.

Katie James, Abby Jones and Maisy Smith defending against top scorer Becki Bath

Photo by Zach Sampson

They now travel to Bristol Road where they will go up against Portishead Town – a side currently sat 8th in the league.

Steve Cuss, the Boscombe side’s manager, was keen to take positives from the result: “It was a game that if you win you take a big stride forward and unfortunately, we didn’t get that win.

The disappointment comes from that we didn’t play at our best but it’s a learning curve and I think on reflection we’ve come this far and to lose our first game in the national league at this stage, we have to take the positives out of it and try and finish the season strongly and win our remaining three league games.”

Cuss went on to speak about how the mentality of his side hasn’t changed: “I think you get that initial disappointment, but I haven’t seen anything different in training. They’ve come back and want to work hard, and they want to finish the season strong.

“We had a week off last week and that gives us a little time to reflect but we’re back in action this week with Portishead on Sunday and I think the team will want to put that result to bed and try and get a really positive one.”

Katelyn Wort with a no-look finish in training

Bournemouth Women have enjoyed a week off following last weekend’s defeat. Whilst many take time off as an opportunity to relax, Abby Jones – who plays right-back for the club – had different plans: “We had a week off training. I think we needed it; we needed a bit of a rest. Some people like that, some people don’t. I carried on through the break. Now, I think we have much more of a positive atmosphere because we know have three games left and we have just got to push on and make sure we win those games.”

Last weekend saw Portishead take on The Cherries’ most recent opponent Cheltenham Town – losing 2-0 to the table topping side.

The last time the Boscombe side came up against Portishead, they triumphantly won 8-2. Cuss admitted that he was surprised by the opposition last time the two sides met, saying: “We thought they were going to set up one way and they came out in a different way, and we found ourselves 5-0 up at half time. They went back to the way we thought they would play in the second half, and it was more of an even contest.

“I imagine they’ll line up in the way we expect them to and the way they normally do, and I think it will be a much more even game than last time.”

Abby Jones during training - Photo by Zach Sampson

Sunday’s game comes just three days before the Hampshire FA Cup Final, where they will play against Southern Premier Division opposition, Portsmouth.

Whilst the two games are close together, Cuss was adamant that there would not be any rotation: “We’ll go as full strength as we can on Sunday. It depends what happens in the game, we may start to look at that, but full focus is on Sunday and as soon as that’s out the way we’ll turn our focus to the final. There won’t be any resting of players, no.”

A strong performance is critical for this Bournemouth side. Not only does a win keep their chances of promotion alive but it will also give them confidence going into the cup final, where anything can happen.