Healy frustrated as 'big decisions cost' City Women in defeat to Wolves

The Reds were beaten 2-1 by Wolves in the Subway Players Cup on Sunday afternoon. Second-half goals from Yana Daniëls and Melissa Filis ensured that Emily Syme's strike shortly after the hour-mark counted for very little come the full-time whistle.

Daniels tapped the hosts into the lead just moments into the second-half converting from close-range following a cross from the right wing. City then pulled level when Syme controlled a superb long-range pass inside the penalty area before slotting into the bottom left corner.

With just nine minutes left to play, Wolves re-established their lead as Filis smashed home following a scramble in the Robins box. Though that proved to be the winner, the Reds thought they had equalised when Alexia Apostolakis headed in from a free-kick in stoppage time.

Instead of forcing a penalty shoot-out to decide who secured the bonus point as expected, however, the referee ruled out the goal for an offside, having consulted her assistant, much to the disappointment of Healy and her players.

"I thought we had a lot of control in the game, to be honest," the City boss told the club's media team after the full-time whistle. "We created a lot of good chances in the first half, and ultimately, we probably should be two or three up before they score, so I'm disappointed in the manner of the goal that they scored.

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"I mean, it is hard to be judgmental; the first goal, she's five yards offside, so that's a tough one to swallow. I thought we got ourselves back into the game, scored a really good goal of really good quality. Then we get an equaliser right at the death to take it to penalties, and it's ruled out for offside, which I think baffled everyone in the ground, to be honest.

"I'm frustrated for the girls and disappointed, but I think with the control we had and the quality of the chances in the game, we have to find a way to win it earlier than that.

"I think it's hard to say we didn't deserve at least a point out of the game," Healy added. "It's so frustrating; you work so hard on set-plays, on deliveries, on runs, on making sure people are in the right positions and decisions like that are frustrating because it's a great header, it's Lexi's first goal for the team, and it's taken away from you.

"It's disappointing, but there's nothing we can do about it. The refs need to watch it back and reflect, because some big decisions cost us today."

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Sunday's defeat to Wolves leaves City 21st in the Subway Players Cup table after four matches. The Robins' gap to the qualification spots currently stands at four points, with two more cup games - against Watford and London City Lionesses - to be played later in the campaign.

This coming weekend, however, attention turns back to the WSL2, with the Reds set to make the trip to the JobServe Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon, where they will face Ipswich Town, who sit second in the table after six matches.

"We have to take the learnings from today because Ipswich are quite similar," Healy said, looking forward. "[They're] very direct, look to find their pace in behind and take a lot of shots from range. We've got to make sure we're prepared for that.

"That's how they've played so far, and they're unbeaten. They've had a very good start to the season, recruited really well and invested really well in their squad, so we have to make sure we're ready for a tough game next week."