CHERRIES women’s boss Steve Cuss reveals his side wants to “play in big games” and that playing their first competitive fixture at Vitality Stadium will be a “learning process” for the team.

Vitality Stadium will play host to Chesham United on Sunday afternoon (2pm) as the women’s side look to keep their hopes for promotion alive.

The added pressure of playing such an important game in front of thousands of fans at is something Cuss is relishing and hoping will help to continue the team's development.

“We want to play in big games, in cup finals, in season-defining games, we want to play at big stadiums and as a group we have to learn to deal with that,” explained the head coach.

“Hopefully it will be a learning process and we will come out on top of that.”

The game was announced six weeks ago but Cuss revealed that he has not had too much time to talk to the players about the game with so many fixtures being played over the last couple of months.

He added: “I haven't spoken much to the players about the game at the Vitality Stadium because we have had so many games in between since announcing we will be playing.

“All I have asked of them is to take on extra media responsibilities, which they have done.

“It was this week for the first time in training that I talked about being able to handle their own emotions.”

With a week to prepare for the fixture, Cuss has now turned his attention to helping the players deal with the nerves and excitement of playing in a new environment in front of a big crowd.

Cuss continued: “I think sometimes when the environment changes, playing in a big stadium in front of a big crowd, you can start to do things differently.

“I spoke to the players at length about that - they just have to play their normal way.

“There will be nerves and we have to embrace those nerves and I have asked the players to again talk to themselves.”

This season has seen several young players break through into the team, most notably Lucy Cooper, who has scored 11 goals in 13 appearances since her debut in October and Cuss wants his experienced players to help the younger generation deal with the pressure.

“There are a lot of younger players in the team that can rely on the more experienced players that have experienced this before,” explained Cuss.

“How they deal with things in the build up to the game.

“It will be a long week for some of them as the excitement grows but it's all part of our learning process.”

Cuss himself sees the game as both an opportunity to give the players some valuable experience but also to generate an interest in the team amongst Cherries fans who may not be aware of the quality of the team.

He added: “From my point of view it is probably like a double header.

“From the manager's point of view we have to win the game because we want to apply that little bit of pressure to the last game of the season the following weekend but we also know this is an opportunity to showcase the team.

“With the large amount of supporters coming in, we want to put on a performance that they go home thinking ‘yeah that women's team can play’ and I want to come back and watch them again.”