‘We’ve got to stay together’ – Oxtoby.

City Women suffered back-to-back home defeats against Villa and West Ham last week to conclude their flurry of fixture, which saw them in action three times in eight days.

“It’s disappointing from our perspective. It was a carbon copy of Wednesday night; we gave away a cheap first goal and then we’re chasing the game.

“We did look tired, but that’s not an excuse. We’ve got a few players missing, so three games in eight days is tough when your squad is depleted.

“The table doesn’t lie. We are where we are for a reason, so we’ve got loads of work to do. We need to stick together and get that work done to get ourselves out of this position.

“The key message to the girls was that we have got to stay together and to fight. There is a clear trend with some of the goals we’re conceding and the decision making in the final third, and that comes down to us working on it.

“We’ve been in this position before and we know what we’ve got to do to get out of it. We’re on point off where we were this time last year, so we’ve got loads of game left, but we need to improve and get better.

“They have been through a lot this year and stuck together. I think getting some experienced players back will help us to gain more leadership and calmness on the pitch.

“You can never question their effort; their effort is fantastic. It’s probably the quality and decision making under pressure at this level that we really need to start to improve in.”