Casparij looking ahead to five more 'cup finals' | OneFootball

Kerstin Casparij says City's approach to our final five Barclays Women's Super League matches this season will remain the same following our 0-0 draw with Aston Villa.

The Netherlands international refused to dwell too much on the goalless draw at Villa Park, insisting that these results are bound to happen in a relentless title race, with City still sit atop the league table.

It was a game of two halves on a windy afternoon down in the Midlands, with Aston Villa probing the City backline in the opening 45 minutes, before we came out for the second half and pushed non-stop for a winner.

Casparij was a constant presence at both ends of the pitch, putting in her usual strong tackles and showing off smart defensive positional play, while also bombing down the wing at any given opportunity.

Despite our endeavours, it was a first draw of the season, but the versatile full-back says the stalemate won’t alter our mentality at the business end of the term.

“This is all part of a title race,” our number 18 said post-match. “We will take what we can from this game and go into the next one.

“Nothing changes for us, every game is a cup final, and we take a point today, of course, we wanted all three, but nothing changes for us, and that’s the most important thing.”

This was City’s first game in three weeks following the most recent international break, and our first time in WSL action since 13 February.

However, that isn’t an excuse Casparij wants to use as an explanation for a frustrating afternoon at Villa Park.

She added: “I don’t want to give that as an excuse (first game after international break), and I don’t like making excuses. Games like this, we know are going to happen.

“Villa are a team who are going to give us a tough battle, and that’s what they did today.

“I think in the first half we struggled a little bit in possession and out of possession. In the second half, we managed to get on the ball more and managed to press them better, but unfortunately, we were unable to convert that into any goals.”