Following the loss to Marc Skinner’s team, our interim head coach challenged his players to raise our standards in all departments during our final four games of the season.
The first of these was a meeting with the Toffees where the Blues were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw with Brian Sorensen’s team after Kerstin Casparij’s opener was cancelled out before half-time.
But Cushing believes City matched our usual high standards with a performance against the Toffees packed with fight, commitment and determination – although he admitted a crucial second goal evaded us at the Joie Stadium.
“We asked for a reaction after the Manchester United performance and we wanted to make sure we played the way our fans expected us to play,” he explained.
“I was proud of the players today, I think they came out quick and we scored early but we just couldn’t find the second to give us distance and conceded.
“We kept plugging away all the way through and I’m proud of the way the players chased the three points today.
“That’s what we asked for. We showed the spirit, the character this team has. The team is suffering at the moment – we know we don’t have a lot of our senior key players.
“What we do have is young players who can show their quality and take their opportunity. I thought we did that today, we just didn’t find the second goal after creating a lot of really good opportunities.”
Watch Cushing’s full post-match interview in the video player above!
