Villa's climb

Aston Villa v Reading
The FA Women's Premier League
2pm, Sunday 27 November 2011
Click here for FAWPL fixtures, results and tables

Graham Abercrombie admits Aston Villa are still finding their feet in the Women’s Premier League but is confident his side have enough quality to climb the table.

Newly-promoted Villa, who appointed the 37-year-old in the summer, have lost early-season momentum and dropped to seventh in the WPL after going over a month without a win.

Despite that, Abercrombie is delighted with their progress and has his sights set on the wins needed to propel them up the table, starting with the visit of Reading this Saturday.

“For me, all the way through the club, this season is a learning curve,” he told TheFA.com. “We have embraced it and that is why we’re not too downbeat when we lose.

“We’re still finding our feet and just because we had a nice start, and we did have a nice start, that will continue throughout the season.

“The target is still the same as when we started the season - it is about taking the learning opportunities and making sure we are in this league next year and beyond. That didn’t change after the first three games and it certainly hasn’t changed now.
 
"I think we have been fabulous this season. We have got games in hand on those around us and if we can turn those games into points then we will be in a much better position."

Villa thrashed Reading 6-0 when the two sides met in the reverse fixture earlier this season but Abercrombie isn’t expecting a repeat of that scoreline this weekend.

“Not at all,” he said. “I would take 1-0 any day of the week!

“Reading were good on the day, believe it or not, we just caught them with a couple of sucker punches in the second half. We understand that Reading will come out to prove a point and we are not going to rely on history because 6-0 wasn’t a fair reflection of the game.

"And we are fully aware that Reading are just above us in the league so it is almost a mid-table six-pointer.”