News: Hector Named Manager Of The Month

Renée Hector has won the FA Women’s National League Premier Division Manager of the Month award for November.

The Golden Girls’ Head Coach earned a nomination after emphatic victories against promotion-chasing sides Hashtag United and Exeter City at Grosvenor Vale last month.

Despite suffering back-to-back defeats at the end of October, the Hornets returned to winning ways with a dominant 5-2 home win over the Grecians to start November with three points.

This win was then backed up with an arguably even more impressive victory over Hashtag United, who were league leaders at the time, with goals from Jessie Gale and Coral Haines making sure of Watford’s perfect league record in November.

The award was voted for by a panel of judges and the public, with the Head Coach delighted to see the hard work of her coaching staff and players rewarded.

“It's a really nice feeling to be recognised,” Hector told watfordfc.com. “It was two very good performances against two very good teams.

“They were two very different games. In the Exeter game we were really clinical, took our chances really well, and then the Hashtag game was a lot of grit, a lot of fight.

“It was probably not our best game in terms of possession and that pretty football we like to play.

“I was so happy and so pleased for the group for the way they clubbed together and helped each other through that because it was a difficult game.

“Hashtag pressed really high, they're aggressive and they make life very difficult for you to play your football.

“But the two chances we had, we took them really well. We were super resilient, so I am so happy for the team.”

Hector added: “This season has been a little bit up and down at times.

“[After back-to-back defeats in October] we just spoke about how close we are to getting it really right, and that we have to keep believing in the process and keep believing in what we're trying to do.

“We had some really good performances but ended up not really getting the results.

“If we just add the finishing touch to that, which is putting the ball in the back of the net and giving them confidence to do that, I knew that we could beat anybody on our day.

“It's really great that the group was able to bounce back and be resilient and go again, and they were rewarded for that with two really good results.”

Now for the tough question – where is the award going to be proudly displayed?

“I think it will probably go on the window edge in our office,” she smiled.

“It’s a long season, sometimes there are difficult moments, but I think it's important we make sure all the staff can see it because it's a group effort.

“I don't win this award without the support from everybody else. All the members of staff have clubbed together and put in their ideas.

“It has been a real team effort so I think it's important that we can remind ourselves of the good work we are doing.”