Chris Hames reflected on Sunday’s 0-2 defeat against Burnley, as he expressed how proud of the effort from the girls against a tough opposition.

Chris Hames said: I’ll be honest I’m absolutely gutted I felt like we had done enough to get something out of the game, to get a draw. I definitely felt we did enough to earn the draw. It’s turning these narrow defeats into draws something which we need to get better at, at this level.

But I felt like we were nearly perfect throughout the 90 minutes defensively and out of possession wise so I’m gutted really if I’m honest with you, but really proud of what we’ve seen and how we’ve coped.”

Still without key players due to injuries, Chris described a feeling of De Ja Vu. “I’m sick of having to say they’re not excuses but at the end of the day they are excuses, there aren’t many teams or any teams that could cope with 8/9 senior 1st team players missing, they’re brilliant people as well as players and they made a huge impact in a game or prep for a game or the environment around it, it’s hard. So when you take all that into consideration that’s what I mean by nearly perfect.”

Hull City Ladies travelled to Burnley on the opening game of the season, with the home side clinching a 9-0 victory.  “I think the progression from Day 1 to now is incredible. It’s nearly been exactly 3 months and I know the game finished 0-2 but you’re talking the last kick of the game for that to be 0-2. Throughout the game it’s been really highly competitive and again we’ve made things happen that we wanted to happen and that definitely didn’t happen on the 1st day of the season.

Stood here right now as a manager of a Tier 3 side we look like a team that are a Tier 3 team. Like I’ve said we just have to turn these narrow defeats into something now and into points, upsetting a little bit and take what we can,” Chris said.

With players out, Chris has had the opportunity to give younger players valuable game time and experiences. “There’s got to be sliver linings, challenges and set backs and being able to get young players involved and give them the opportunities at this level and see how they can make an impact is a huge part of it. Well done for Lily coming in, Rosie and Lila who didn’t manage to get onto the pitch but they’re in and around it and supporting what we’re doing in training we take those benefits and they’ll be better and we’ll be better as a club.”

The Tigresses now turn their attention to Middlesbrough this Sunday in the Second Round of the FA Cup. “We’ve not played them in a year but it feels like all we do is play Middlesbrough, so I could have called that draw and we did call that draw before it came out but we look forward to playing them and we will see what that looks like and they’ve got a-lot of backing and resource, massive ambitions in the league they’re in.

We’ll see the challenge and we’ll take the game as it comes and we’ll keep trying to compete”, said Chris Hames.