LAUREN BRUTON says Reading are eyeing a run to the FA Cup final after falling just short in Sunday’s Conti Cup semi-final with Arsenal.
Royals were competing in their first ever semi-final since joining the WSL and led 2-1 with 15 minutes to play thanks to brilliant Bruton and Brooke Chaplen strikes.
But two late goals saw the Gunners snatch a 3-2 win and leave Reading ruing a missed opportunity.
“3-2 aside, we’ve done extremely well through the Continental Cup,” said Bruton.
“This is the first time the club has got into a semi-final.
“It was great for the club and we were all really excited.
“Obviously it wasn’t meant to be, but we pick ourselves up.
“Now we concentrate on the league, that’s our main priority now so we can see if we can push hopefully into the top three by the end of the season.”
As well as the league, the Royals enter the FA Cup next month with a clash against fellow WSL 1 side Birmingham City.
And after having a taste of a first semi-final, Bruton says everyone is confident they can go one better next time.
“The FA Cup starts in February for us so we’ll be looking to really push on in the FA Cup,” she said.
“There’s a lot of us that would love to get to the final of that and we are confident.
“We know we are a good team.”
She added: “We’ve got to tighten up defensively. I think there’s a lot of areas we need to work on going forward because we’ve got Arsenal next in the league.
“We’ll still be positive. We’ve got a great bunch of girls.”
