Joe Montemurro was full of praise for full-back Katie McCabe after she scored a thumping long-range effort as Arsenal Women earned their first win of 2021.
McCabe scored one of four second-half goals, alongside Vivianne Miedema, Jordan Nobbs and Lisa Evans, as the Gunners bounced back from consecutive defeats with a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa.
Having come into the game on the back of defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea, and having been frustrated by a determined Villa in a goalless first half, Montemurro was delighted with his side’s second-half flair which included McCabe’s wonder strike.
“Katie’s [McCabe] very good at set-pieces and anything outside the box,” Montemurro said. “She hit it well and got the rewards for it.
“Obviously we’ve looked to get back into our rhythm and into our way of playing.
“This was a perfect example of the professionalism we approached the game with, but more importantly we were always in control and we felt it was just a matter of time until we got our rewards.”
Victory moves Arsenal to within four points of the Champions League spots, with a game in hand, and a frustrating season now appears slightly rosier.
Just four points had come from their previous four league contests before the Villa clash and this win was just the response required.
But Montemurro is under no illusions that their impressive second-half showing will have to continue if they are to qualify for Europe.
He added: “We’re in a position now where we control our destiny. To get into the top three spots we can’t make too many errors going forward.
“We’ve got more games that we believe we can do very well in and it’s purely up to us. We control our situation. We’ve just got to make sure we’re professional and we limit our errors.”
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