Chris Church | Stadium game is a reward for players’ hard work
Interim head coach Chris Church wants Swansea City Women to embrace the opportunity of playing at the Swansea.com Stadium, but make sure they play the game and not the occasion against Wrexham on Sunday.
The Swans play at the stadium for the first time as a semi-professional team, having faced Cardiff Met and Cardiff City last season prior to the change of status over the summer.
The third-placed hosts entertain a Wrexham side sitting second in the table, with both teams looking to secure their places in the championship phase of the campaign after Christmas.
They played our a thrilling 3-3 draw in north Wales on the opening weekend of the season, with the Swans launching a late fightback despite being a player down.
Church hopes Sunday's game proves similarly entertaining, but wants Swansea to produce a showing to underline how far the team has come and the hard work put in by so many to get to this point.
“It’s great that we get to play there, it’s great for the players and hopefully we can put on a show for the fans there on the day and get the three points that we need," he said.
“I’ve been at this club for the best part of 10 years now and every time I’ve been to the stadium, it’s lit a bit of a fuse inside me that I want to be on that touchline. So, to get the chance on Sunday to represent this great club means a lot to me and to everyone connected with the team.
“It’s a massive reward for the players, all the hard work that has been put in week in and week out, and hopefully this is something that continues going forward.
“We have to look at from the first game against Wrexham and what they are doing at the moment, they’ve done really well and they will be a tough outfit.
“For us it is about making sure we play the game and not the occasion. It is about us, it’s about what we do well, our style of play and putting in a great performance for those fans.
“I think over the last couple of weeks we are starting to show the performance levels we want, now it’s about continuing that for the full 90 minutes and really hammering home that advantage in front of a home crowd.”