Hardy’s honest reflections on the Women’s Under-21s defeat to Chelsea | OneFootball

Our Women’s Under-21s side suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Chelsea on Wednesday afternoon in the Professional Game Academy.

Chelsea, who had only suffered one defeat in their opening six games and sat at the top of the table prior to our clash, were clinical in front of goal from kick-off until the final whistle as they netted nine goals past us at Cobham training ground.

Giving an honest reflection on the game, Nick Hardy wants to use the experience against the Blues as a learning curve moving forward.

“Of course it’s very difficult to take on first impression, I thought Chelsea were relentless in the pursuit of the game and never let up,” he told us.

“It’s probably the first time this season where we have been below our expected standards, on and off the ball, and you can’t do that against any team in this league - let alone Chelsea.

“It will be a huge learning curve for everyone involved, but we will take some time to reflect and try to learn from it, continue to be true to who we are and what we are trying to create across our Professional Game Academy League.”

That result leaves us seventh in the table and on six points after six games, with only two more fixtures left to play in the Professional Development League against Bristol City and Southampton.

Following those two matches, the sides from the Southern and Northern divisions will then be split into two groups for phase two of the competition, where the top four from each section will be placed into Division One and the rest of the sides into Division Two.