After an excellent start to our debut in the top-flight and a league break, the Inver Reds were back in action in the Sports Direct Women’s Premiership this week, suffering a home defeat to Sion Swifts Ladies.
Mark Strange speaks to our no. 23 Hollie Johnston on the Inver Women’s season so far.
MS: Hollie, we’re about halfway through the season so far, what do you make of it so far and have you seen any improvements?
HJ: Massively yeah, obviously we went up to Sion, first game of the season and lost 7-0 but it was the first match in the Premiership and first match together. Obviously, in the first half of the season you could see each week, week in week out, everybody was improving. Their attitude, their commitment, the scorelines, everything was getting better.
Obviously, we’ve just had that break and we’re back in the season, and these next few games are going to be tough, and we knew that this game was going to be difficult, but I thought the girls put everything into the game, and you could tell that everything we’ve been working on has came through. We were much better today than the last game against Sion.
MS: You’ve said there we’re going to face them again, the tough Belfast teams, but just before the break the team got some more positive results in. What’s your thoughts on that?
HJ: It was good to get those last few matches that we needed. We could play a bit of football and get some points and goals out of each game so that was good to end the first half of the season on a high. We know that we have a run of tough games coming up again, we just need to stick together for the next six weeks, and make sure everybody stays motivated and positive.
MS: It shows that the team can compete at this level. Whenever the team was playing them tough sides it could have been very easy for the heads to drop but the girls haven’t done that at all.
HJ: No, they haven’t, it’s good, we’ve got a very young team, there’s a couple of older ones but the majority are young, however you can see a level of maturity in them. They’re staying motivated, even with the goals coming in, they’re not letting their heads drop, they’re fighting for everything they can.
MS: Even today with a couple of players missing, compared to the first Sion game, we had a few younger girls stepping into them spots.
HJ: We had the main core defenders missing today, and a few experienced ones missing but those girls out there today, who wouldn’t maybe start games, or playing positions they’re not used to. They really did step up; they knew what they had to do and got stuck in.
MS: Absolutely, and I suppose at this point in the year you’re seeing the benefit of a good squad depth as well.
HJ: People often worry about having so many young players, other teams might come in and see ‘oh they’re only young we’ll be fine’, but they don’t play like they’re young, they blend in with everyone on the pitch. They show as I said that maturity in their football and just making sure to keep their heads up.
MS: Now you face Glentoran in the Cup, as you know it’ll be tough but for the team, it must be a game to get a bit more experience.
HJ: This year we’re using the cups to get experience, yes you want to put on a good show and do well in them, but it is all about building the team and trying people in different positions, test out new formations – just to get depth in the team, minutes on the legs. Yes, we will take the cup seriously, and we will give it our all, but our main aim is staying in this league.
