Nadene Caldwell says Glentoran Women are determined to end their Champions League qualifying campaign on a high when they face FC Pyunik in Saturday’s third/fourth place play-off in Wrexham.
The Glens’ hopes of becoming the first Northern Ireland club to reach the second round of the competition were ended by a 4-1 defeat to Riga FC in Wednesday’s semi-final at the STōK Cae Ras.
Despite the scoreline, the contest against the Estonian champions was far closer than the final result suggested and Caldwell believes there were plenty of positives for Kim Turner’s side to take into Saturday’s encounter.
“Anyone who wasn’t at the game looking at the score would think it was a very one-sided game in favour of Riga, but that was definitely not the case. We obviously found ourselves two goals down early in the second half, but I thought we had battled well up until then,” said Caldwell.
“We carved out a number of good chances against a team which hasn’t really conceded a lot and that’s something we should take a lot of heart from. Unfortunately, we conceded an own goal before Faye Loughran pulled one back for us. Otherwise, it could have been a very different finish. They grabbed a fourth as we continued to push in stoppage time, but I don’t think the scoreline was a true reflection of the game.
“Looking back, we know we could have done better at both ends of the pitch and the harsh lesson at this level is you will get punished, but we can’t be too downhearted, especially with another game coming up against Pyunik on Saturday. We want to finish this mini tournament on as high a note as possible and it will stand us in good stead for the rest of our domestic campaign.”
Armenian champions Pyunik also suffered a four-goal defeat in Wednesday’s other semi-final. They led after 12 minutes before hosts Wrexham fought back to secure a 4-2 victory and book their place in Sunday’s final.
Caldwell is expecting another stern test, but believes the Glens have shown enough to take confidence into the encounter.
“Any team who wins their league will always have quality, so we certainly won’t be taking them lightly. We saw what they did against Wrexham and they have a lot of experience throughout their side. They will probably feel a little hard done by for the way their semi-final panned out and I’ve no doubt they will be looking to sign off the tournament with a win too.
“We just have to make sure that we go about our jobs in the same fashion as we did on Wednesday, as well as being better in both boxes. We have proven in recent games that we are more than capable of carving out chances and I’ve no doubt we will do the same come Saturday.
“Nobody likes losing games and Wednesday’s defeat to Riga was another sore one for us, but mainly because we felt that if we had been more clinical with our chances we could have come away from the game with something to show for our efforts.
“That hurt, but it has given us a real determination that we don’t want to feel that way again come the end of Saturday’s game against Pyunik.”
