24th September 2018
Cheltenham Town Ladies midfielder Kayleigh Hateley has heaped the praise on her team’s front line following another high-scoring display in the FA Cup.
Hateley, who starred in Town’s 4-1 win over Brislington in the SSE Women’s FA Cup believes her colleagues could have performed better despite the emphatic victory.
“It definitely wasn’t our best performance,” Hateley revealed immediately after the match. “We made it a little bit hard for ourselves. We went in at half-time winning, and I feel like we could have come out stronger.
“But we got a few goals, got the win and that’s all that really matters in the cup!”
Cheltenham’s unbeaten record was extended to seven games (in all competitions) with their win over Brislington.
The midfielder heaped the praise on Annie Martin, who bagged herself another two goals on Sunday, following her arrival to the team in the summer and the impact she has made.
“We’ve got Annie Martin, that helps,” Hateley jokingly answered when asked about the side’s unbeaten run.
“She’s been amazing! She gets the goals, she gets the headlines. But you’ve also got girls like Ella (Hitchcox) and Sal (Butterfield) running around her and setting her up.
“But yeah, she’s been amazing and it’s great that she’s part of our team!”
Cheltenham’s win means they are in the hat for the 3rdQualifying round of the Women’s FA Cup and Hateley admitted that they’ve already progressed further than they had initially aimed for.
“We’ve already got further than we thought!” Hateley admitted. “It’s great that we’ve got this far… we just need to take each game as it comes.
“Obviously, we don’t know who we’ll get next but all we can do is play our own game. Keep going, keep trying to be confident and who knows?”
On a personal note, Hateley’s performance in the centre of midfield had a huge impact on Town’s display – with the physicality of Hately and the energy levels of Louise Fensome; the two formed an impressive partnership in midfield.
