Royals defender provided an honest assessment on the challenges experienced this season, the secrets behind a successful centre back pairing and being ready to put everything into the final three performances.

Deanna Cooper suffered a fracture in October, which ruled her out the side for a few months, but came back for undoubtedly one of the most challenging months.

In just five weeks, the Royals faced all the sides which were sat in the top five of the Barclays Women’s Super League, and Cooper shares the challenges of having to be switched on throughout when coming up against world class opponents. As well as providing an insight into her defensive partnership with Gemma Evans.

“It was extremely challenging to come back into that busy period,” began Cooper.

“I had obviously been out with a fracture for a while, so jumping straight into that many games took its toll.

“However, working with our incredible medical team, I was able to stay on the pitch to help the team.

“It’s just great to be back fit and playing!

“It was just funny getting back to full match fitness ahead of the month we had. We knew when we were given our schedule at the start of the season, entering March was going to be our toughest run in terms of the teams we faced.

“It’s always hard in those scenarios because you are coming up against world class teams and players, it is important to remember what you can offer in those games, especially when your backs are against the wall, focusing on your strengths can be a great tool to stay motivated and focused!

“Coming up against these sides, it’s a challenge for all of us, as we are all asked to be more defensive resilient from front to back. But, being a defender, you know its these games where you will be under the spotlight as a lot of questions will be asked of you.

“A good centre half needs to be strong, brave, decisive and have good quality on the ball, most plays are created through the decisions of centre halves so confidence on the ball is key! It helps if you love to tackle and head to!

“I think another key skill which kind of goes unnoticed is the ability to be adaptive, not just in a tactical sense, but when in defence you need to be a strong collective.

“This season we signed Gem [Evans], so we both have to go through a period of transition to create a new partnership this season.

“Sometimes it can take a while to gel but with Gem it was easy, we are slightly different players with our own strengths, so we compliment each other really well. She’s super laid back, easy to play with and our partnership clicked very early on.”

Cooper: “It’s been a difficult season, but we’re ready for the final push!”