Sheffield United boss Thompson pleased with League Cup draw at Durham | OneFootball

Sheffield United head coach Ash Thompson said that he was pleased with his side’s 1-1 draw with Durham in the Women’s League Cup but was disappointed that The Blades didn’t come away with more.

Monique Robinson fired Sheffield United ahead at Maiden Castle before Eleanor Ryan-Doyle levelled matters for the hosts. The two sides contested a penalty shootout for a bonus point with Durham securing a 4-3 victory on spot kicks.

When speaking to WSL Full-Time after the match, Sheffield United boss Thompson said that he was pleased with what his side produced over the 90 minutes.

“I’m pleased that we’ve got something,” Thompson said. “I thought we were the better team, certainly early on in the game. We didn’t quite create opportunities from the dominance that we had but I thought we started the game really brightly, deserved to go ahead and I’m a little bit aggrieved that we didn’t win it in 90 minutes with the performance that we had.

“The goal [conceded] came from a mistake from Bethan [Davies] who apart from that, was excellent in the game.

“I’m pleased to get something and a little bit disappointed that we couldn’t hold on.”

Sheffield United’s priority this season is Barclays Women’s Championship survival but Thompson sees value in the Women’s League Cup in terms of developing younger players and building on performances.

He said “It’s not a priority in terms of winning the competition but we always use it as an opportunity to blood young players and compete against Championship or Super League opposition.

“We are not in great form in the league, so it’s nice to get something from the game and see the game out because we’ve conceded a few late goals in the league in the last few weeks.

“We are going away pleased, we have achieved a lot of what we wanted to achieve. On another day, we could have been walking away with three points.”

Sheffield United do not return to league action until 19 January 2025 and Thompson admits that the break is far from ideal.

He said “It’s not ideal, we go over a month without a league game. The cup is useful for us but we have different priorities and it’s not quite the same.

“We are unlucky given the fact that we are the last team to have the free week with us having 11 teams in the league. We will look at it as an opportunity. We will train really hard and focus on our next game which is in the FA Cup after the international break. We want to do well in that and be in the Fourth Round in January, so that’ll be a focus. We’ve got another League Cup game too.

“It’s not ideal to have such a break but we will make the best of it.”

Sheffield United return to action after the international break when they travel to Liverpool Feds in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.