Bristol City boss Matt Beard says his team deserve an enormous amount of credit for taking their relegation fight to the last day of the season; City are bottom of Women's Super League, two points adrift of Aston Villa, who have a superior goal difference
Thursday 6 May 2021 18:20, UK
Bristol City boss Matt Beard says the team deserve credit whether their bid for Women's Super League survival ends in success or failure this weekend.
The rock-bottom Robins are two points adrift of their relegation rivals Aston Villa, who have a vastly superior goal difference, heading into Sunday's season-concluding round of WSL fixtures.
Bristol City face seventh-placed Brighton away, while Villa are at third-placed Arsenal.
Having been on two points after 10 games when Beard took charge in January until the end of the campaign, with Tanya Oxtoby going on maternity leave, the team have accrued 10 from the 11 matches that have followed.
Beard told a press conference on Thursday: "Whatever happens Sunday, the team deserve an enormous amount of credit for getting ourselves in this position.
"I've known people turn around and say that Bristol City were going down, I've had managers say it, I've had general managers say it from other football clubs.
"They all thought Bristol City were going to go down, and we've upset the apple cart and dragged teams into it that didn't expect to be in it because they just thought Bristol City would go down.
"It's not in my nature to take a job and just go through the motions. I've given everything so far to the club, to the players, and we've got one big last performance as a group together, to try to get three points and stay in the division."
He added: "If we're not nervous, we wouldn't be human. It's a big game, everyone knows what's at stake. I've asked everyone just to focus.
"For the most part of my time here, the players have been fantastic, and they have delivered in certain situations. It's just one big performance from us and hopefully that will be enough for us.
"Aston Villa have got a tough opponent in Arsenal, and it's Joe's last game as well (Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro is leaving the club at the end of the season), so I think I would prefer to be in our position than Aston Villa's position with the opponent.
"I said to the girls on Tuesday in our pre-training meeting that if you had been offered, mid-January, to be in the position you're in, that you could potentially stay in the league on the last day of the season, we would have snapped your hand off.
"The players and staff have been amazing to get us into this position.
"It would be an unbelievable achievement for everyone involved."
Asked if he felt, had he had the players for the whole season, Bristol City would have been good enough to stay up comfortably, Beard said: "Yes, 100 per cent.
"If you look at their December run, they had a lot of players that were out injured and I think Tanya had quite a tough hand dealt in those months. But I do feel if I'd had a pre-season, we wouldn't be where we are now, definitely."
Beard oversaw a 3-0 home WSL win over Brighton in January and 1-0 away FA Cup loss to them last month.
When the 43-year-old, whose tenure has also included a 1-0 semi-final victory over Leicester and 6-0 final defeat to Chelsea in the Continental League Cup, was asked about his situation after this weekend's game, he said: "Tanya is the manager, my contract expires at the end of May.
"This is purely maternity cover and I've not spoken about anything else. My main focus is Sunday and then we'll see what happens after that."
Interim Aston Villa Women manager Marcus Bignot joked that he is "too old for mind games" after Beard said that he would rather be in Bristol City's position than Villa's, despite the Robins needing a win on Sunday against Brighton to have a chance of retaining their WSL status for next season.
Villa, away to Arsenal on Sunday, need just a point against Joe Montemurro's Gunners to guarantee safety if City beat Hope Powell's Brighton.
Bignot told Sky Sports News: "I'm too old for mind games so I and Matt will definitely have a drink and a conversation after this.
"He has to say all the right things, like I said we have probably already done enough, the hardest thing in football is to win football matches. Us and Bristol have struggled to score enough goals to win games.
"Matt, well done, but the mind games, we'll save that for a conversation after the game.
"We've been great competitors over the years and he has to say those things but I wouldn't swap our position for his, no chance.
"We've got the points, we can add even further points so it's in our hands, they can win and they can still be relegated so I know which camp I'd rather be in."
