Women | Joel Hutton: I’m delighted with the position we’re in
Cardiff City FC Women manager Joel Hutton spoke ahead of another weekend without a match, reflecting on the season so far before looking ahead to the challenge of Caernarfon Town at Cardiff International Sports Campus on Sunday, November 11th...
“I’d have been delighted if you’d offered me the position we’re in and the points we’re on at the start of the season,” began Joel. “Our performances have been strong and our best probably came against Cardiff Met – we were unlucky to lose that game.
“Regarding Sunday’s draw, we knew it was going to be a tough one because it’s the strongest Port Talbot team that we’ve seen for a while and their results have backed that up. It was probably the strangest game that I’ve ever been involved in and I’ll probably never see one like that again. As I said post-match, I don’t know what was more criminal - giving away four penalties or missing three, but luckily, we were able to hang on and it’s a point at the end of the day.
“We’ll play Caernarfon Town on November 11th, but we will be in early this Sunday morning for a training session. Without being disrespectful, they haven’t started the season particularly well, conceding quite a few goals, but as with all of the teams up in North Wales - they have an awful amount of passion and fight. We need to play to our strengths, move the ball around quickly and try to create as many opportunities as possible to put the game to bed as early as possible.”
On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, Daisy Connolly, Eryn Gibbs, Kanisha-Mae Underdown, Hannah Daley and Catherine Walsh visited Cardiff City FC Foundation’s Soccer Schools to inspire the next generation.
Hutton concluded: “We had five girls go over to the House of Sport, which is run by the Foundation, to see the young girls. That’s where the team started off and it’s important that we go back to lend our support to the Foundation, similar to what Justin Jones and Autoclenz are doing for us. All three parties are involved in this strong relationship.”
Hannah Daley also revealed her thoughts about having no fixture this weekend, before reflecting on the Port Talbot Town game and expressing the strength in depth of the Bluebirds squad this season, adding: “It is disappointing that we’ve got another weekend off, but we’re going to train hard on Sunday and hopefully that will keep us rolling. It was obviously disappointing to draw last Sunday, but Port Talbot are a good team and at the end of the game we were happy to take one point.
“It’s good that we’re not just a team this season – we’re a squad. It’s good because the last couple of seasons we struggled with injuries, so now we’ve built a big squad and it’s definitely made us stronger. There’s obviously a lot of competition for places with every girl working hard and turning up to training - it’s definitely helped us.”
The midfielder concluded: “We’ve started well and if you had said at the beginning of the season that we would be on the points that we’re on now - we’d be happy with that. We have a lot to work towards, but we’re in a good position to challenge for the title.”
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