
Bristol City Women suffered their first loss of the season yesterday in a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City, after an excellent start to the new campaign.
So far this season, Smith has been able to field young players such as Naomi Layzell who has broken into the side at the age of 17.
Smith said: “Personally I love it, young players have the desire to go and achieve things in anything they do, they have great confidence, we believe in them.
“Ultimately it’s about us at Bristol City to bring through these young players and give them opportunities and that’s what we do.
“I love working with young players, it adds energy to us because of that as well.”
Speaking of the youth, 22-year-old Shania Hayles who joined the team in the summer from Aston Villa, has already created a formidable strike partnership with the more experienced Abi Harrison.
When speaking about the pair, Smith said: “To create more opportunities in the final third, we are going to have to find a way to get round teams that drop off against us and flood the box because it makes it really hard for us to score.
“The pair are going to have to find moments of brilliance and speed of play to beat these teams and we know that our front lines are pacey, so we just have to get something clicking a bit more so we can just get a few more in the back of the net.
“Teams look to double up on Harrison which makes it difficult for her to score but it has made her bring out her creative side, making her think more about what she does instead of thinking goal goal goal all the time.”
Harrison and Hayles currently share 10 goals between them, with Hayes sitting joint top in the race for the league’s golden boot.
Smith’s side will now turn their attention to Sunday, where they take on fourth place Charlton Rovers for the second time in three weeks, away from home in Women’s League Cup action.