Portsmouth aiming to spring a surprise on Championship rivals says Younger

Portsmouth defender Jazz Younger says that the club are looking to surprise some of their Barclays Women’s Championship rivals this season.

Pompey are set to kick-off their first campaign in the elite game after they were promoted from the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division at the end of last season.

Given the investment around the Barclays Women’s Championship, the odds will be stacked against Portsmouth this season but defender Younger believes that the club can match the best.

“We are definitely wanting to surprise a few,” Younger said when speaking in a Barclays Women’s Championship media event. “Obviously, there are a lot of teams spending money, that have big budgets and there are some big names coming into it but we are just focusing on ourselves and what we can do. We want to prove to the other teams that we are not the underdogs and that we are going to put you on the back-foot and give you a game.”

Portsmouth have retained the vast majority of their promotion-winning squad on full-time contracts. They have also added six new players to their group including some with significant Barclays Women’s Championship experience. Younger says that the squad has gelled nicely ahead of the new campaign.

She said “I feel like we are going to do really well. The new signings have settled in well, it feels like they’ve been here all season. Everyone gets on; we are a light-hearted, jokey team, they fit in perfectly. The cohesion together is already there.

“We are coming in as the underdogs a little bit but we all know that and we are prepared. We want to prove teams wrong and put them on the back-foot a little bit. We are ready.”

Going on to discuss targets for the season, Younger said that Portsmouth haven’t set any expectations with regard to league position. The focus has been aimed towards the team’s playing style.

She said “Our manager just wants us to play with intensity, he keeps buzzing that word around. We are going to go into every game thinking that we can win. We haven’t really set ourselves a target to win the league or anything like that, we just want to come in, play our best football on the day, try and take as many points as we can and stay up. We want to enjoy our football and play the best that we can.”

Portsmouth kick-off the new Barclays Women’s Championship season with a fixture at Charlton Athletic on Sunday afternoon.