Argyle Women’s recent playing schedule has seen many a familiar team as opponents, so when the Greens were drawn against Oxford United, few were surprised.
Both previous games against the U’s this season have ended in victory for Argyle, but by no means did those victories come easily.
In the league, at home, Argyle came from 2-0 down to win 3-2, while in the FAWNL Cup a week later, the Greens ground out a 1-0 victory away from home. This time, a fourth-round Adobe Women’s FA Cup berth is on the line, as Oxford, now with Liam Gilbert as their manager, look for revenge.
“It's always exciting to play the FA Cup,” Head Coach Marie Hourihan told Argyle TV. “It’s always nice to have the mix-up between the league and cup competitions. Oxford are a familiar foe from recent games, but are very much a different team under a new coach and definitely have a different way of playing. I anticipate another difficult game, but one that we're approaching with clear intent, in terms of what we need to do.
“They’ve played three games under a new coach, and you can see there are definitely differences in how they're playing. There are certain things that we need to be more aware of, but as I said, in terms of the actual groundwork, we've done a lot of that already.
“We are riding the crest of a wave, at the moment. The game being in the FA Cup adds that extra bit of incentive. In terms of health and wellbeing, everybody's fit and all together with the incentive of potentially drawing a WSL team in the fourth round.”
The current run of fine form leaves Argyle in a confident position. Sixteen unbeaten in all competitions sees Hourihan’s side third in the league, in the final eight in the League Cup, and in the third round of the FA Cup.
Hourihan knows how important it is to focus only on the game at hand, however. Not past results, future games, or the upcoming Christmas break.
She said: “Our previous two games have been tight. There have been one-goal swings, so we can't look any further ahead than Sunday, and that's our approach in general. It is the old cliché, saying we’re approaching it game by game, but I think that has served us well up to this point. Priority number one is making sure that we are ready and prepared to perform.
“You’re not always going to be perfect. Sometimes you've got to find a different way, and as I said, I think we've done that to good effect in recent games. I think this week has been good for us to strip back and focus again on what has made us really successful and got us into this position. I feel like having that opportunity to focus on certain aspects this week will be beneficial.
“We’re in a good run of form. We know we're going to face a difficult opponent, but for us, the bigger the game, the bigger the challenge, the bigger the performance. That's what we're hoping for.”
