Beard hails his forwards as City chase strong finish.

City face Tottenham Hotspur in the Barclays FAWSL this Sunday (March 21st, 2pm KO) where they look to get back to winning ways after their midweek defeat to Manchester City.

But Beard believes in the creative and goalscoring ability of his players with the season nearly over and a fight to stay in the league on their hands.

Manager Beard said: “In every game I’ve been in charge of we have created chances and the pleasing thing is having Abi Harrison, Charlie Wellings and Ebony Salmon all firing so we have goals coming from across the team.

“Maybe some of the teams in this relegation battle don’t have that so we can use it to our advantage over the coming weeks.”

Beard looks back on recent victories over Brighton & Hove Albion and Reading as well as the West Ham United draw, as examples where City have taken the game to their opposition and proved they are good enough to compete in the division.

“Trying to shift the mindset against top teams has been more difficult than I anticipated,” Beard admitted. “If you look at our performances against Brighton, West Ham and Reading those were games where we dominated and it’s shifting that mindset and having the confidence and belief to do it more so than anything else.”

He continued: “With our run-in it’s a good opportunity for us to carry that belief and confidence into the game, both with and without the ball.

“I knew coming in that Chelsea and Manchester City wouldn’t defy whether we stay up or go down, it’s knowing we can pick up the points where it’s vitally important. That’s not me writing games off, it’s me being realistic, knowing where we feel we can win or pick up points. We’re a team that can consistently pick points up and when we realise that we can take the positive from defeats in the last two games and we can be in a good place.”

And with all eyes on Spurs this Sunday, Beard says he expects a slightly different contest this time around, after the teams drew 2-2 back in November.

He said: “They’ve changed manager, they’ve changed the way they play a bit. We’ve started to touch upon one or two things in training where they’re good without the ball but for us it’s a game we feel we can get points, be that a win or a draw.

“For us it’s important to continue the belief as we did against Brighton and Reading and we have confidence. We scored three goals in each of the games, we scored against West Ham and we had more opportunities too, but the woodwork denied us twice and they cleared one off the line.”

Beard added he has a full-fit squad this weekend as City prepare for to hit the road in North London.