Manager Martino Chevannes wants QPR Ladies to continue where they left off, ahead of their return to FA WPL Southern Div action against Lewes this weekend…
A 2-1 win at West Ham United before Christmas breathed new life into the R’s survival bid, coming from behind to end their long wait for a first win of the 2016/17 campaign.
Now Chevannes hopes victory in their final outing of 2016 will be the boost his side need to haul themselves away from the bottom of the table in the New Year.
“It was a massively important result for us,” Chevannes told the club’s website.
“We went there knowing that in order to keep ourselves in touch we had to get something from the game. On the day we deserved the three points.”
Victory provided a positive end to what’s been a difficult first half of the season for Rangers.
Chevannes (pictured) wasn’t helped by the departure of several first team players last summer, but has faith in his current crop to turn things around.
“To say this season has been tough would be an understatement,” the R’s boss admitted.
“The league table doesn’t lie and we have underperformed so far. But there have been some games, funnily enough against teams at the top, where we’ve held our own for long periods only to be denied by a late goal or two.
“We don’t want to keep dwelling on it but we practically lost the whole of our team from last season bar two or three players. We have had to start from scratch to get a completely new group of players together which, in a division as strong as ours, was always going to be a tough task.
“Credit to the players, they’re fighting and we’re going to fight until the end. The win over West Ham has given them a massive confidence boost and belief that we can go on and pick up some more vital results in the second half of the season.”
Rangers kick-off 2017 against another side in the bottom half, as Lewes visit Uxbridge on Sunday.
Chevannes hopes his side can take another stride towards safety but knows it won’t be easy.
“With the squad they’ve got, I’m a bit surprised Lewes are in the position they are although they do have a few games in hand,” he said.
“They are a very good side and games against them are always very tough and tightly-contested affairs; no doubt this one is going to be the same.
“They’ll be coming to us looking for three points but we’ll be looking to gain some momentum with back-to-back wins.”
Sunday’s FA WPL game against Lewes kicks off at Honeycroft, at 2pm.
(Images: Ian Randall & Kevin Richards)
