InterviewGrace Fisk's semi-final preview: Excitement for Brighton tie, pride, leadership and more
Liverpool FC Women captain Grace Fisk has spoken of her pride in her teammates for turning their season around and being one step away from Wembley.
The Reds have steered themselves to safety in the Barclays Women's Super League after a challenging start and still have the chance to end the campaign with silverware.
They take on Brighton & Hove Albion in the semi-finals of the Adobe Women's FA Cup on Sunday, with the action at St Helens Stadium getting under way at 12.15pm BST.
Fisk spoke to Liverpoolfc.com to preview the eagerly anticipated showdown with the Seagulls – read on for the interview.
On the team's build-up to the semi-final…
We are really excited obviously. We've had a big week of training and we've been working really hard. We just can't wait to get going again on Sunday at St Helens.
On whether there is excitement or added pressure because of what's at stake…
I think the main feeling is excitement. We know what's at stake and we know we are so close to Wembley. We went so close last season and got knocked out in the semi-final. So, the mood amongst the girls is we are really excited and can't wait for this game.
On how proud she is of the team after what they have been through as a group this season…
Definitely. We all knew the situation at Christmas and it wasn't looking great for us, but there wasn't really a moment when we doubted it because we knew at some point it was going to turn around. We just had to keep working at it – which we did – and I'm really proud of us and us as a team. We have worked so hard as a team to turn this around and we've had some positive results in the WSL. And if we could top that off by getting to Wembley, that would be amazing for us.
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Watch on YouTubeOn how she would describe her style as captain…
I think I'm quite personable. I like to get to know my teammates and I feel like I've got a really good relationship with all of them. I hope I lead by example. I'm maybe not the loudest or anything but I'd like to think the way I train and the way I play gives inspiration to the rest of the team and I'm a calming influence. We have a really good group of girls here and it's really easy to be captain of this team. I'm really honoured to be the captain. The girls always help me.
On Sunday's test posed by Brighton…
There were so many positives we could take from our performance last Sunday at Manchester City. We let ourselves down the previous week against West Ham and we wanted a reaction. It was a really strong performance from us, although we lost the game in the dying minutes, which was gutting. But even though it was a positive performance, there are still things we feel we can do better. We've drawn twice with Brighton this season and in both of those games we feel we could and should have won. Maybe they would say the same. But we definitely feel on our day we can beat anyone and we will go into it with full confidence.
On the quarter-final win at Charlton Athletic and a special moment for Zara Shaw after her injury…
Zara, we can't speak highly enough of her. For someone so young and what she has been through, she is the most professional and the most hard-working girl. It was a really emotional moment – not just for her but for us as well – to see her get that winner. It was a tough game and Charlton put up a good performance and took us to extra-time. But there's no-one else really than Zara who we would have wanted to score the goal with what she has been through. We were really happy for her and she has got such a bright future ahead of her.