Beard outlines fixture break plans.

City Women are not back in action until Sunday, March 7th when they host Reading in the Barclays FAWSL.

There’s also a Continental Cup final to look forward to, with the Robins set to meet Chelsea at Vicarage Road in March.

But the group will have the chance to catch a breather, recharge the batteries and relax before they get back to the hard work on the training pitches in preparation for the journey ahead.

Speaking after the weekend’s defeat to Chelsea, Beard said: “They need a rest after an intense five weeks so they’ll have a couple of days to switch off. We’re in three days next week where we’ll work hard and work on our positional play, our patterns and get us sharper and fitter

“That was the biggest thing for me, seeing their (Chelsea) fitness levels in comparison to ours. We’re fitter than when we were when I first started but we can utilise these next two weeks to improve as a team.”

The Robins were beaten 5-0 by Chelsea at Twerton Park on Sunday with Beard frustrated to conceded from the wide areas, while the Robins were also let down in the transitions. 

He said: “As the game went on we got better, the pitch was tough but they are a very good team and there are some positives we can take from the game.”

It was therefore a tough afternoon for Beard’s side but there are more opportunities ahead.

“I said to the girls we’ve identified where we can win to get us out of where we are so this won’t define where we finish in the table but we didn’t compete at times,” Beard continued.

“For me, we need to be smarter, be more consistent throughout but we need to regroup and continue to move on…this won’t define our season and hopefully we can take confidence and belief from some of the good things we did and use that as motivation going forward.”