Brighton & Hove Albion manager Hope Powell says that she wants her side to show their appetite for a Vitality Women’s FA Cup run when they host Reading in the fourth round on Sunday.
The Seagulls are yet to reach a major domestic cup final despite having a good record in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup over the last couple of years.
Brighton & Hove Albion have a dismal record against fourth round opponents Reading and manager Powell says that her side must have the stomach to defeat The Royals and go on a cup run.
“It’s a one-off game, you win and you progress, you lose and you are out but we will give it a good go,” Powell said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.
“Having the appetite for the FA Cup and having a run is really important to us because we want to do well so whatever happens, hopefully the players will give it everything and we get rewarded for that.”
Reaching a first Vitality Women’s FA Cup final in 2021/2022 would see Brighton & Hove Albion hit another major milestone in the club’s development but Powell is under no illusions about how tough that will be.
She said “The desire of every club is to get to a final and win silverware but we know that you have got to play the teams that you are up against first and you have to beat them to progress. The last semi-final, we had to beat Arsenal to progress and that didn’t happen, it is a big ask but that is the desire otherwise there is no point being part of the competition.
“We want to win, we want to progress but we can only deal with the team who we face next and we go from there.”
Brighton & Hove Albion’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Reading at The People’s Pension Stadium kicks-off at 1pm on Sunday afternoon.