Lauren Smith insists her Bristol City side will relish the added pressure of going from hunters to the hunted in the Women’s Championship.
The Robins battled to a hard-fought 1-0 win at Lewes on Wednesday evening as Shania Hayles’ second-half strike helped them leapfrog London City Lionesses at the top of the table.
City now sit three points clear at the second-tier summit and boss Smith hopes their time leading the chasing pack has finally come to an end.
She said: “If we’re top of the league, then people are going to want to take that away from us. A lot of games are going to look like that between now and the end of the season.
"We’re back at the top of the table and that’s where we want to be, so we have to take the pressure that comes with it. We’re not happy chasing so now that we’re back at the top, we’re going to do everything we can to stay there.
"It’s not going to be easy; it’s not going to be plain sailing and there’ll be lots of changes before the end of the season – that’s the type of league it is.
"It was a really tough, a real fight out there. Long parts of the game weren’t nice to watch but I'm really pleased with how resilient the players were tonight and the emphasis was that we wanted to come away from tonight knowing where we stand. I’m really pleased with the three points.”
City suffered an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of Women’s Super League high-fliers Manchester City in the fifth round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup on Sunday. But they rediscovered their mojo when it mattered to grab their fourth win in five league matches and clamber to the top of the table.
Hayles struck just before the hour mark from close range, as the hosts failed to clear their lines, to put an end to Lewes’ stubborn resistance and fire Smith’s side to a gutsy victory at the Dripping Pan.
City have just eight games remaining to close out promotion back to the top-flight and now turn their attention to a trip to Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Smith added: "I need to watch the goal back because it was all over the place. We had so many chances in the build-up, especially from set-plays so I’m glad we were able to force our way through.
"Credit has to go to Sophie Whitehouse, the goalkeeper, because she had another outstanding game.
"We praise our defensive unit a lot and I’m really pleased with that. It was a tough game from them, defending some long balls in behind towards the end which they had to be really alert to. It’s going to be a really interesting last eight games.”
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