Bristol City Women’s head coach Charlotte Healy has acknowledged that her side have to “hit the ground running” in their away trip against Portsmouth on Sunday.
The Robins come into this weekend’s fixture away at Westleigh Park off the back of a three-week-long international break, and currently sit fourth in the WSL2 table, two points behind Crystal Palace in the third-place play-off spot, and three points away from Birmingham City in second.
But with the Reds still aiming for a promotion push in the closing stages of the season, Healy admitted that the stop-start nature of the league is not ideal but insisted that her side need to make a strong start to this next set of fixtures.
“It takes us three months to play six games, so that is not great for rhythm,” the City head coach said ahead of her side’s trip to the south coast. “We’ve got an important block of four games and then another break.”
“We have to create our own rhythm, and we have to create our own flow and make sure that we don’t waste any time in getting back into that rhythm because we’re under no illusions that we’ve got to hit the ground running.”
The hosts have had a difficult campaign so far, sitting 11th in the WSL2 table, only picking up a single point between mid-November and the most recent international break. However, Jay Sadler’s side secured a shock victory over league leaders Charlton Athletic in mid-week to put an end to the Addicks’ 479-day unbeaten run.
Pompey are also a familiar opponent to the Robins, with the two sides meeting already twice this term, with the Reds coming out as 2-0 victors on both occasions. However, Healy emphasised that her team won’t be taking them lightly.
Into the hat for the Fourth Round! 🎩 pic.twitter.com/0YGca5c3Di
— Bristol City Women (@bristolcitywfc) December 14, 2025
Bristol City Women were 2-0 winners over Portsmouth in the FA Cup back in December.
“You can’t take that for granted,” she stated, “We’d beaten Southampton twice too, and we didn’t win that second league game.
“Portsmouth are obviously coming off the back of a really good result on Wednesday night, beating Charlton, so they’ll be flying too, and they’ll be back in the swing of things already.
“I think everybody wants a game under their belt when you come off the international break, especially one so long.
“So you could look at it two ways, they might be a little bit tired and fatigued going into the game but they also probably have a bit more rhythm too, so we’re going to have to make sure that we start the game fast and that we nullify their threats and, like I said, that we turn up and show the best of ourselves in this game on Sunday.”
The Robins have been without a few experienced names in recent weeks, with Marine Dafeur and Harley Bennett among the players who have missed out due to injury.
Marine Dafeur joined Bristol City last summer from French side FC Fleury 91.
While both were initially expected to return around the international break, Healy has suggested that supporters may have to wait slightly longer before the duo return to action.
“We’re still a bit depleted, to be honest, in terms of injuries,” she conceded, “But we’ve got a few close to coming back, so we’re looking forward to having those back with us over the next week or two.”
“We’ve been lucky throughout the season that our bench has come on and really impacted games positively, which is really good news for a manager, and we will continue to need the whole squad.
“It’s important that everyone stays fit and everyone stays sharp and everyone’s ready when they’re called upon because with six games to go, we need to make sure everybody’s right at it.”
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