EXCLUSIVE: Ellie Tanser on Hull City returning to league campaign after Women’s FA Cup heroics | OneFootball

Ellie Tanser (Hull City/Peter North)

Hull City captain Ellie Tanser says her team return to FA Women’s National League Northern Premier action this weekend with their heads held high after their Women’s FA Cup exit.

They hosted WSL2 side Birmingham City in the fourth round of the cup last weekend, falling 6-2 after being 4-0 behind at half-time.

But Tanser looks back on the entire campaign with a sense of satisfaction.

“The overall emotion is pride more than anything,” she tells SheKicks.net.

Hull City have had some difficult times in recent months. Last year, one of their owners put in a request for them to be relegated amidst accusations of misconduct and mismanagement. For the team to still be in existence – let alone in the fourth round of the Women’s FA Cup and hosting professional opposition – is a huge achievement.

“It was always going to be tough on Sunday,” admits Tanser. “You’ve always got to go into it thinking you’ve got a chance. We absolutely believed that we could get something from it. Obviously it wasn’t to be on the day.”

Ellie Tanser: I’m pleased we gave Hull City fans something to celebrate

Although she was frustrated with the nature of some of the goals conceded, she was particularly pleased to attract a record attendance to cheer on the team.

“In the second half, when we scored, when we all got together celebrating, one of our team-mates was like, ‘Cheer to the crowd – give them something to cheer’, because we were all just within ourselves, and [we wanted to] get the crowd going, so that was quite a nice little moment. They got behind us and we managed to get another goal. I’m just pleased we’ve given them something to celebrate, because they’ve all made that journey there and they want us to do well.”

Indeed, in the second half, Hull City matched their higher-tier opposition, with both sides scoring twice – and Tanser herself getting on the scoresheet.

Ellie Tanser (Hull City/Peter North)

“When you look at it like that, it’s quite good because we had some tired legs out there as well in that second half!” she says, adding that her legs were certainly tired. The club shared some statistics after the game that showed that she did the most running, getting 12km under her belt over the 90 minutes.

“I think that’s the furthest I’ve ever run in a game, to be honest. I couldn’t even speak at the end. I couldn’t put two words together.

“To be honest, I think a lot of the girls would have been up there with that [total distance] because I think in terms of great determination and just sheer willingness to run, it’s probably the best we’ve been as a collective and that’s why we’re also proud of it.

“There’s a lot of positives we can take from that moving forward into the league. We’ve set our bar in terms of how far we can run and how much effort and energy we can put into a game. I think we’ve set that bar really high, so hopefully that continues in the league.”

Tanser excited about second half of season

Hull are currently seventh in the league, and travel to eighth-placed Liverpool Feds this weekend.

And Tanser is hoping for a great second half of the season.

“It’s been real refreshing to have some new faces and new energy in through the door, so that’s been really positive,” she says. “I don’t think we’ve been our absolute best so far this season, and I think there’s so much more to come from us.

“So I’m excited, actually, about what the second half of the season could hold.”