COVENTRY City Ladies manager Craig Nicholls says his side must push themselves to the limit as they had into Sunday's final league fixture at Portsmouth knowing only a win will crown them champions.
The Sky Blues sit one point behind Premier League Southern Division leaders Gillingham but three points from their trip to the south coast on Sunday will be enough to clinch the title.
And Nicholls knows how big of an achievement it would be to win the league in his debut season just over a week after claiming the Birmingham County Cup.
“It's a big game for each and everyone of us at the club,” said Nicholls, who replaced Chris Holloway last summer.
“Any time you get the chance to win the league it's going to be huge game. The club deserves this opportunity and we are ready off the challenge.
“We will approach the game as we do every game with commitment, desire and positivity. We will push ourselves to the limit of our powers.
“It would be a fantastic achievement but to be honest the players have done the hard work.
“They have implemented and worked on what I and my coaching staff have wanted them to do and the success has come from there effort.
“Whatever happens on Sunday we have had a great season but we will be pushing really really hard for victory.”
Nicholls' side got half of the job done last Sunday after getting the better of league leaders Gillingham 3-0.
Goals from Helen Dermody, Becky Anderson and Maz Gauntlett earned the Sky Blues what could prove to be a huge victory in the race for the title.
Nicholls knows the importance of that result but insists it was a win that did not go to his head.
He added: “It was a massive result for us. The pressure was on both of us. Either way we both had to win for our own reasons.
“We just seemed to handle the pressure and situation better which says a lot about our players.
“It was a tough game without doubt but to be honest they only had one clear cut chance. We defended superbly and looked threatening every time we went forward.
“We have spoken about just getting on with things. We didn't want to add any pressure to the situation.”