Morris: “It shows our progression"

Ella Morris felt there were ‘positive spells’ to take away from the draw with Leicester City as she shined once again in the Barclays Women’s Super League.

Making just her fourth start in the WSL at the King Power Stadium, the energetic right-sided full-back continued to impress in our colours with another strong performance against the Foxes, rightfully being chosen as Sky Sports’ Player of the Match.

Having fallen behind from an unfortunate goal by Josefine Rybrink just 10 minutes into the second half, we fought back to get back on level terms just after the hour mark as Drew Spence turned home Jess Naz’s cross.

And we certainly had opportunities to steal the win in the closing stages, hitting the woodwork twice while the home side where indebted to goalkeeper Janina Leitzig for a number of key saves, including one against Ella inside the opening five minutes of the contest.

However, it wasn’t to be our day in the sunshine in Leicester as we shared the points, and Ella was keen to look at the positives from the performance.

“It’s a difficult game for us, but it was really good that we showed some positive spells,” she told us after the game.

“We built up well, kept the play, showed how we wanted to play as a team and got a draw here.

“I think you can see what we’ve been working on in training, we’ve built better connections now and it’s just about having that clinical edge again.

“It was a great finish from Drew, great cut back from Jess, and those are the areas we’ve been working on, so it’s good to show that has paid off."

Watch | Spence volleys home

Reflecting on the character after fighting back from a goal down, she added: “It shows our progression as a team, going a goal down, we don’t have the best record with that, but I think we kept our heads, stay calmed, still carried on playing our football and we didn’t result to changing our style of play and that paid off with the goal, so that’s really good for us.”

Having been sidelined with injuries on two occasions in the first six months, including a MCL injury last time out, the England youth international has started to cement her spot in the squad and she feels her being settled in Lilywhite is getting the best out of her.

“Just coming into this team really helped me settle in, first and foremost, building the connections, I absolutely love all the girls and the staff.

“Feeling settled here means I can play my best on the pitch, I feel confident and comfortable at the minute, so that’s really nice for me.”

As we head into the final stages of the campaign with just four games left to play in the WSL, Ella is eyeing a strong end to the season once we return after the international break.

“We still have a lot of games left, we want to get as many points as we can and finish as high up the table as possible, so it’s just about building on that and getting the supporters down to support us at our next home game.”

Watch | Morris reflects on draw with Leicester