Bristol Academy captain Grace McCatty is confident that Bristol have enough time to turn their season around and remain in the Premier League.

McCatty concedes that things haven’t exactly gone to plan so far this season but believes that the only way is up for a young Bristol squad and has her sights on a return to the England set up.

She said: “The preparation as a squad hasn’t been the best due to players not joining us until the end of pre-season and this lack of team preparation affected us in the first few games.

“Overall we have potential but that potential is taking a while to show, a few extra players to reinforce the squad, added to the players we already have, will make us a strong team next year.

“On a personal level I want to finish the season winning more games and get myself back into the England set-up and progress towards achieving my dream of playing for my country.”

Bristol find themselves in a relegation battle, but with a number of games still to be played, McCatty feels the squad need a change of luck if they are to stay in the top flight and has a desire to continue playing against some of the countries best talent.

She added: “As you can imagine it’s not easy to keep going every week when you are constantly losing or struggling to get going, but credit to Mark (Sampson), our manager, his hard work and belief has been a real confidence boost to the team all season.

“We have struggled to gain consistency and this is due to a number of reasons, as a team we have failed to build on positive performances and the weather has also played a role in this.

“We have only played one game since December and the hard work and preparation we put in at training has failed to be implemented, it is especially hard as all we want to do is play.

“Playing in the Premier League against world-class players is a learning curve and something I strive to learn from, it gives me a lot of motivation to better myself so that I can improve and make more of a contribution to my team and our cause in the league.”

Defeat to West Ham United in the FA Women's Cup meant that Bristol would have to concentrate on league duties and McCatty felt that the defeat was a missed opportunity and a blow to what could have been a solid cup run.

She said: “We had a great opportunity to do well and get a good cup run going but our performance on the day let us down, we made errors and mistakes on the day costs us greatly.

“The team has so far reacted positively in training, continuing to work hard and if this effort can be sustained then it will begin to show in the league and hopefully we can start to gain better results.”

McCatty’s first appearance in the Premier League came as a teenager but with three years experience under her belt, the 20 year old is starting to notice less of a divide between the higher and lower teams in the league, something that she feels will help the game to progress.

“The Premier League is a good standard and a level that any young female footballer should strive to compete in.

“There is a difference between the higher placed teams and lower placed teams due to the quality of the squad as a whole, however, I feel that this difference is beginning to level out more as the years go on.

“When I first played in the Premier League as a 17 year old, Arsenal were unbeatable, having not lost a game in so long, many teams, even those in second and third place struggled to compete with them.

“If you look at the current league, Arsenal have lost a game already this season and Everton, who were the closest challengers to Arsenal last season, have also lost a few games.”

Bristol have made a bid to become part of the FA Women’s Super League, the highlight of an ultimately disappointing season, however, the young centre back insists that the club are capable of rising to the challenge if their bid is successful.

She added: “Bristol has the potential and the support network behind it to establish itself as a strong player in the Super League and with the support of Filton College, the staff and players involved, we can mount a successful bid.

“I am aware that other clubs will have also placed strong bids but due to the geographic location of Bristol, I believe it is essential for the future of women’s football for a team to be competing in the Super League from the South West.”