Argyle Women’s 3-1 defeat at home Watford on Saturday afternoon was only the Pilgrims’ third defeat of the 2025/26 season.
Marie Hourihan’s Greens led at the break thanks to Una Lue’s tidy finish, but three goals from Watford, in the final 20 minutes, meant the Hornets left with three points, and leapfrogged Argyle in the table.
Madison Perry brought the game level with a fortuitous strike – her cross looping over Hermione Cull in the Argyle goal – but a confident strike from Isabella Fisher three minutes from full-time put Watford in front, and a later Perry goal, following a miscommunication in the Argyle defence, put the visitors out of sight.
Head Coach Marie Hourihan was disappointed with the overall result, and emphasised the need for a positive reaction before next week’s FAWNL Cup quarter-final against Lewes.
“We are all obviously very disappointed right now,” Hourihan told Argyle TV. “I was happy with our first-half performance. I thought we executed our game plan really well, denied them the space centrally, won the ball back well, and scored a well-worked team goal. I think we caused them problems, certainly in our build phase, and got behind them several times.
“I think we were in good control and, other than a corner towards the end, literally the last kick before the first half, they didn't really cause us too many problems. I don't think Hermione [Cull] really had to be involved, so that was really pleasing. The message at half-time was pretty much: ‘look, expect a reaction. You're going to get a reaction from them.’
“In the opening stages of the second half, they probably had a little bit more momentum but, in terms of creating opportunities, we were still in good control, but I felt that over the last 20 minutes, our decision-making was a problem with the opportunities to slow the game down and gain territory.
“Some of our details on our passing and our first touch let us down, and led to situations for them, which ultimately resulted in the first and second goals. That's a disappointing element for me. We put ourselves in a strong position, but our game management at times was what let us down in those moments.
“To lose, after being one goal up, is a bit of a pill to swallow, but it's something now that we've got to take on the chin.
“We've got a League Cup quarter-final against Lewes in a week's time. We will be back in on Tuesday, take the learnings out of today, and then full focus and attention will turn to Lewes.
“I'll be looking for a response in our performance levels. For 45 minutes, I thought we were excellent today. We beat the same team in the League Cup, but we were excellent for 90 minutes [that day], and that's the difference. We didn't manage those last 15 minutes of the game when we could have done a lot better.
“It is what it is, though: that's football. The next game comes around thick and fast, and we need to respond.”
