Lois Fidler has urged her side to not dwell on Tuesday’s defeat by Italy as they prepare to take on Austria in their second group game at the European Women’s U17 Championship.
A Federica Cavicchia goal six minutes from time denied England what would have been a well-earned point in Telford.
But the Head Coach said her players should be proud of their performance and not be disheartened by the result.
England v Austria
UEFA Women's U17 Euro Finals
Group A
7pm, Friday 29 November 2013
Proact Stadium, Chesterfield FC
Tickets are £3 and £1.50
Fidler told FATV: "It’s not about what’s done, it’s about what’s next.
"If we take into the game all the positives from the last one, and build and fine-tune then we’re confident that we’ll be able to get something out of the game.
"We’ll unpick Austria like we did Italy, we’ll be organised and we’ll be ready to try and break them down and get something out of the game, which we have to at this stage of the tournament.
"The players will take the positives and the things we need to tidy up on and we’ll build for Austria."
She continued: "These tournaments are all about development but I wouldn’t be so naive to think that winning doesn’t come into it. If you want to progress in a tournament like this and progress to a World Cup, ultimately you’ve got to win.
“It’s not about what’s done, it’s about what’s next.”
Lois Fidler
"But with this age group, the measure of success shouldn’t just be on results – and for me, the performance those kids put in [against Italy] and how far they’ve come over the last nine, ten, 12 months is incredible, so I was more pleased with the performance and tried not to reflect on the result."
Fidler also reserved a few words of praise for St. George’s Park, The FA’s new national football centre where all eight finalists are being housed.
She concluded: "St. George’s Park is such an inspiration.
"Every time we drive along the mile-long drive we get another 10 per cent out of [the players]. You can’t be anything other than inspired with surroundings like this.
"We try and encourage them not to take it for granted, we try and remind them about professionalism and we try and remind them what they are aspiring to – and that is to be the next generation of senior internationals.
"Every team has commented about how amazing the facilities are, how lucky we are, [that] they’re glad to be here, it’s the best facilities they’ve ever seen and that’s a compliment to The FA and how we’re investing in the game moving forward."
