Greater London League Division 2 South side Surrey Eagles spanned three divisions to win at Bexhill United of the London & South East Premier in the SSE Women’s FA Cup on Sunday, so we found out more from manager Duncan Muller.
SK: Tell us a little of your playing/coaching career
DM: I have been coaching teams for about 15 years now and been involved in the ladies game for about 3. I played at an ok level but retired from the game about 5 years ago. We formed our club in 2013 and with a lot of hard work by the staff and players, have made huge strides forward. We have a great bunch of players who give their all, week in week out.
SK: How did the scoring go?
DM: Bexhill took the lead through a mix up in our defence – they hadn’t really had any chances until that point. We equalised early in the second half through Faye Hayden, when she raced on to a fantastic through ball from Lisa Couchman and went round the keeper to finish coolly. The second was a wonder strike from Ellie Crabb, who hit an unstoppable drive from about 25 years, which flew like a rocket into the corner.
SK: What do you think to the draw?
DM: Its going to get harder as we progress but we are confident and I am sure we will compete with any team we face. It’s an exciting challenge for us, as we have never played St Nicholas before, so it will be good to play them. I am sure it will be a great game and hopefully we can get ourselves in the hat for the next round.
SK: Has your season begun well?
DM: Yes, very well, we finished last season in a rich vein of form and we are now unbeaten in 15 games. This season we have scored 14 and conceded just 2 in 4 games.
SK: What are your expectations for this campaign?
DM: We want to win our division. We know there are some good sides around and it will be tough but we are up for the challenge. We are also in four cup competitions and having made two semi-finals last season, a cup final day would be nice. Above all we want the girls to enjoy playing, we have a great team atmosphere and it’s very important we maintain that.
All images by Jon Smalldon / jonsmalldon.wordpress.com
SHE KICKS – the online community for women’s football
