Furness delighted with Durham’s fast start to the season after latest win | OneFootball

Durham’s first team head coach Adam Furness was delighted with his players after they ended Birmingham City’s unbeaten start to the season at Maiden Castle on Sunday afternoon.

Lily Crosthwaite grabbed the only goal of the game shortly after half-time to earn The Wildcats a third win in their first four Barclays Women’s Championship games.

When speaking to the media after the match, Durham boss Furness expressed his delight with his side’s performance.

“Everybody was so disappointed with last week’s result, the performance didn’t dictate what we merited last week,” Furness said. “To come back and do this today, home ground, home performance, home crowd, I’m over the moon.

“[Lily]’s really developing [goals] in her game now, on the scoresheet regularly, she’s such a threat. We’ve been working with her a lot in pre-season and it’s really starting to show for her.”

Durham arguably could have won by more, creating further chances whilst effectively nullifying the visitors in the other direction. Furness was delighted with his side’s application in training following his appointment in the summer.

He said “From the start point, we’ve just tried to come in and looked to implement our own philosophy and how we want to play. So far, the girls have really bought into it. Winning games obviously helps, but at this moment in time, we’re in a really good place.

“There’s nobody in the squad who’s got a divine right to a shirt, everybody’s got to keep working for their place.”

Furness stressed the need for Durham to maximise their Maiden Castle home as their fortress, making it difficult for visiting sides to come.

He said “We have great backing at home, we never want to make it easy for any team coming up here to play against us. I think it helps with our identity and what we are trying to do. Full credit to the girls, they enjoy playing here [and] we train here regularly. It is our home patch [so] no-one is going to come here and roll us over easily.”

Durham are next in action when they travel to Blackburn Rovers in the Women’s League Cup on Wednesday evening.