Tanya Oxtoby's Bristol City Women's side battled their way to a 3-3 draw at the Madejski Stadium against Reading Women on Women's Football Weekend in the FAWSL.
The Robins were 2-0 and 3-1 down in this match, but goals from Yana Daniels and Ebony Salmon meant that City came away with a vital point from Reading.
Speaking after the match, Oxtoby admitted that the application of her side to come back twice in this game was 'exceptional.'
She said: “I’ve taken a minute to catch my breath.”
“The application and execution of what we asked of the girls away from home was exceptional today and we showed unbelievable character.
“We asked them to be compact and sit it and be clinical on the counter- they did that exceptionally well.
“I thought the character to come back from 2-0 down and 3-1 down is exceptionally, and this shows what this group has got in their locker.
“And they deserve that. They have all been working hard over the week and there have been some good performances. We probably were a bit unlucky, but I’m really pleased that they got a point today.”
'We dug ourselves out of our own hole'
At 2-0 down, the consensus was that this was going to be a very long afternoon for The Robins.
Oxtoby praised her goalkeeper Sophie Baggaley and her defence for keeping her side in the contest in the first half.
She said: “From our perspective, we had a game plan when we came here today. The girls never wavered from that. I thought our first 20 minutes we were poor. Baggaley and our defenders kept us in it.
“It could have probably been a bit more higher scoring. But our second half was exceptional. That’s what we ask of the girls. We said you need to be able to dig yourself out of holes that we get ourselves in, because if we ask them to be brave and play then we are going to make mistakes.
“But then I thought we adapted well in the second half, and we saw the game out. From our perspective, to come away from home and score three goals when no one really gave us a chance to get anything from this game is exceptional from the players.”
City sit in 11th place in the FAWSL table with three points, only two points above Liverpool who are bottom of the table. In the context of the game, Oxtoby sees the point gained as if it were three points.
The Bristol City manager said when asked if the point was as good as three: “It has to be, doesn’t it.
“You’ve got to be resolute when you are away from home. Reading are a good side. Their movement off the ball is exceptional and they are very smart with what they do.
"We knew this wasn’t going to be a clean sheet type of game, so we needed to be effective on the counter, and this is a massive point for us."
Charlie Wellings: “It was a great team performance, we showed real fight to come back and get a point.”
Charlie Wellings scored the first of Bristol City's three goals.
“I just saw a channel, and I knew that Carla could deliver it in there", Charlie said when describing the events of the goal. "I looked at her straight in the eye, and she looked back at me and I knew it was coming in. It bounced awkwardly, so I thought oh no it’s messed up. But luckily it fell nicely and I placed it into the corner.”
When describing the aims of the team going forward, the 21-year-old recognised the importance of scoring more goals and keeping more clean sheets as the key to helping the side get more wins on the board.
She said: “To get a point from conceding three goals is massive. But if we can keep clean sheets and keep the goals coming, then hopefully we will get a few more wins on the board."