The Ford Football Ferns will look to avenge Saturday night’s defeat to Korea Republic in a rematch tonight.

After taking a 1-0 lead into half time, the Ferns were undone by a twenty-minute spell whereby Korea hauled themselves back into the game, first forcing an own goal and then Lim Seon Joo scoring a free header nine minutes before the final whistle to take the win.

Head coach Jitka Klimková was disappointed but matter of fact.

“The psychology was a key role for us,” she said.

“We planned to be playing well, we planned, we were prepared for our attacking football, and it went really well for 60 minutes. That we scored an own goal is always tough psychologically. So it didn't help us to keep that mindset and that courage for another 20 minutes.

“So the psychological moment was there, but I think the way how we play, that's the way how we want to play and we will get used to it. And we will keep that lead not just for 60 minutes, we know what we need to do, and if we want to win those games, we just have to be consistent.

“And we have to deal with the moments that we are going to concede goals, which will be normal. That's the game: we will score goals, we will concede goals, but we need to react to those moments much better than how we did in our first game.”

While the final result was disappointing, the team has continued to progress and develop its more attacking style of play since the October window - something that 156-cap Fern Ria Percival was pleased to see.

“In the last tour against Canada we built some good foundations and were playing some really good football. For me, I'm enjoying my football again here and I'm seeing the progression, I'm seeing us develop each game. And I think now that the other night was probably some of the best football we've played in a very long time.

“So I can see the development, I can see us building and working on every game. And I think now we're showing that we can compete, we can play football and we're playing some good football now. And like we say, we just need to obviously work on the things from the other night and focus on this next game and getting the win.”

After all, just how important is it to finish the year on a win? Klimková is resolute.

“We were so close and we are waiting for it. We are feeling it. We feel it's coming.

“We will play for the win. We will leave everything on the field.”

The Ford Football Ferns’ second match against Korea Republic kicks off at 11pm tonight and will be broadcast live on Sky Sport 1.

Article added: Tuesday 30 November 2021