YEOVIL Town Ladies manager Lee Burch stressed the importance of persistence after watching the Glovers record their maiden Women’s Super League victory.

Burch’s team secured a nailbiting 1-0 win over Everton Ladies thanks to Hannah Short’s looping long-range effort, but the Somerset side were forced to survive a concerted spell of pressure from the Merseysiders in a nervy ending.

The triumph followed a heartbreaking run of four successive 2-1 defeats to West Ham, Liverpool, Bristol City and Brighton.

And Burch feels the lessons learned from those results were enacted against Everton.

He said: “After going so close the last four weeks we felt it was going to turn. Everton have put us under so much pressure, they’re a good side.

“They’ve put us under more pressure than the games we’ve lost, but we’ve got something and we’ve deserved it because of how well we’ve defended and stuck in there.

“A little bit of luck here and there, but that’s what football’s about. If you keep going, you’ll get your results eventually and that’s what the team have done.”

Burch went on to describe how Yeovil required a “different mentality” to close the game out having been behind in most games this season.

He said: “It’s a new challenge

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for their character. (Brighton) was the first time we’ve won a half of football and (Everton) was the first time we’ve been in front.

“That’s a different mentality and obviously Everton threw everything at us and we had to get to half-time and compose ourselves. I’m really proud.”

Goalkeeper Megan Walsh was again a stand-out performer for Yeovil, repelling all chances that Everton conjured, including a miraculous double save at point-blank range late in the game to earn player-of-the-match.

Burch said: “I could speak about Meg every week. I’ll say it again, if she was at any other club she’d be in the England setup, fact.

“I hope that she starts getting the recognition she deserves. What we’ve said about Meg is all the catching, all the kicking’s got to be great as well as the communication.

“That double save is the difference. It’s probably been a tale of two keepers. Their keeper will be a bit disappointed with the goal, definitely.

“We’ve been saying for weeks, we’ve seen the goalie errors from other keepers Meg doesn’t make them, but other keepers are and they’re getting spoken about.

“So you can see in her performance I can’t talk highly enough of her.”

Yeovil return to action away at Chelsea on Sunday (2pm).