After their unfortunate 4-0 loss at home to Bristol Academy in the UEFA Women’s Champions League Round of 32 first leg last week, Raheny United will look to put a better complexion on the tie when they play tonight’s second leg.
The Pandas tired noticeably in the latter stages of the first leg in Richmond Park as injuries and fatigue took their toll and coach Casey McQuillan wants them to redeem themselves at Ashton Gate.
“We know that we’ve a mountain to climb in terms of trying to turn things around but regardless of what happens we want to give a better account of ourselves than last week,” he said.
“We effectively played with nine players towards the end of that game but overall the performance wasn’t anything like that we’re capable off.
“Going into this game we know we have to be more compact and also try to create chances.
“I think Bristol are a good side and we felt they would be quicker than us and stronger too but we knew that and knew it would be a battle. We expected to do better ourselves.
“When I look back on it our distribution was poor. We panicked a little when we had the ball and probably the occasion got to us a little. You need to play a few games at that pace to adjust to it.
“Since then we’ve trained well and the girls are in great form. They are still positive and we’ll be getting our minds back onto the league after this game. That’s always been at the back of my mind that the UEFA games are great but we need to perform in our own league to get back to this stage.”
Despite picking up a knock in the first leg Katie McCabe is available for the FAI Continental Tyres Women’s National League champions but Keeva Keenan is a doubt and Clare Shine is out after a recurrence of a recent injury.
Thursday October 16th
UEFA Women’s Champions League Round of 32 Second Leg
Bristol Academy v Raheny United, Ashton Gate (7.30pm)
SHE KICKS – the online community for women’s football
