MATT BEARD believes Bristol can draw strength from disappointments they faced this term as they gear up for their big WSL survival battle.
And the interim Robins boss praised his players for taking the relegation battle to the wire before their end-of-season crunch clash with Brighton.
An away defeat of the Seagulls – with Aston Villa losing to Arsenal – would see the Twerton Park outfit maintain their WSL spot.
And Beard, 43,who led the bottom-placed Robins to a win and three draws in seven league games since March, hailed his players’ never say die attitude.
Beard said: “This team doesn’t give up on anything and whatever happens, the team deserves an enormous amount of credit for getting themselves in this position.
“I’ve heard people turn around and say Bristol City will go down.
“I’ve heard managers say it, I’ve heard general managers say it from other football clubs. They all thought Bristol City were going to go down.
“But we’ve upset the apple cart and we’ve dragged teams into it that didn’t expect to be in it because they thought Bristol City would go down.
“But it’s not in my nature to take a job and just go through the motions and I’ve given everything so far to the football club and to the players.
“And we’ve got one big, last performance as a group together to try and get three points and try and stay in the division.
“I think we can draw upon and take confidence from all our experiences, even the disappointments including the game against West Ham because we should have comfortably won that.
“That showed the progression that we were making in that short space of time.”
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Bristol have registered a win and a draw against Brighton across all competitions this season.
And Hope Powell’s side sealed a narrow 1-0 victory against the Robins to knock them out of the Women’s FA Cup in April.
The last WSL encounter between the teams ended in a dramatic 3-0 win for Bristol in January.
But since then the Seagulls have gone on to win five of their last ten games across all competitions to rise to seventh in the table.
Defeat for Bristol would see them relegated to the Women’s Championship for the first time since 2015.
And Beard, who will take charge of his final game as Robins interim gaffer admits his team will face a stern test against Powell’s side.
Beard added: “Hope (Powell) deserves a lot of credit for turning their season around. “Look we only played them a couple of weeks ago so we know how tough it’s going to be.
“They’re hard to break down, they’re defensively organised and dangerous on the counter, so we know exactly what to expect.
“This is probably the ideal game for us because we’ve played them twice and we know a lot about them.
“I’ve probably watched now, six, seven of their last matches because of the preparation for going into the game.
“For us, it’s about taking chances and sometimes that’s been our Achilles heels in some of the games
“We have good chances and we can’t afford not to take them this weekend.”
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Beard said: “This team doesn’t give up on anything and whatever happens, the team deserves an enormous amount of credit for getting themselves in this position.
“I’ve heard people turn around and say Bristol City will go down, I’ve heard managers say it, I’ve heard general managers say it from other football clubs
“They all thought Bristol City were going to go down, but we’ve upset the apple cart and we’ve dragged teams into it that didn’t expect to be in it because they just thought Bristol City would go down.
“But it’s not in my nature to take a job and just go through the motions and I’ve given everything so far to the football club and to the players.
“And we’ve got one big, last performance as a group together to try and get three points and try and stay in the division.
“I think we can draw upon and take confidence from all our experiences, even the disappointments including the game against West Ham because we should have comfortably won that.
“That showed the progression that we were making in that short space of time.”
Bristol have notched up a win and a draw against Brighton across all competitions so far this season.
And Hope Powell’s side sealed a narrow 1-0 victory against the Robins to knock them out of the Women’s FA Cup in the contest’s fourth round in April
The last league encounter between the teams ended in an emphatic 3-0 win for Bristol in January.
But since then the Seagulls have gone on to win five of their last ten games across all competitions and are now seventh in the table.
And Beard, who will take charge of his final game as Robins interim gaffer admits his team could face a tougher test against Powell’s side.
Beard added: “Hope (Powell) deserves a lot of credit for turning their season around. “Look we only played them a couple of weeks ago so we know how tough it’s going to be.
“They’re hard to break down, they’re defensively organised and dangerous on the counter, so we know exactly what to expect.
“This is probably the ideal game for us because we’ve played them twice and we know a lot about them. I’ve probably watched now, six, seven of their last matches because of the preparation for going into the game.
“For us it’s about taking chances and sometimes that’s been our Achilles heels in some of the games
“We have good chances and we can’t afford not to take them this weekend.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
