James scored the Bournemouth goal to equalise in the first half, her fourth at the Vitality Stadium, but a goal three minutes into the second half proved to be the winner and the Dorset club now see their playoff hopes out of their hands.
Reflecting on the game, James told the Daily Echo: “Yeah, disappointed.
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“I think we had enough chances in the first half to probably be in a better position at halftime.
“Obviously went in at 1-1 and hoped to push on, but if you concede an early goal in the second half, it makes it difficult, especially on a pitch like this. So yeah, not our day today.”
Katie James (Image: Richard Crease)
Missed chances was the story for the Cherries as the spurned a number of good opportunities throughout the game.
Asked why that was, James said: “Maybe a bit of confidence. I think recently we've had a few chances like that and we haven't put them away.
“I think it's just a bit of confidence. As a striker, if you bang one in, then another 10 come.
“If you're not scoring, then it's difficult. But it's the same for the rest of us.
“We've got to be a bit tighter at the back and not let in chances like we did today. So yeah, collective effort, but something we'll work on in training this week and try and put it right next week.”
James said they felt they were in control at the interval, but Bedford’s early goal and their tactical resilience in the second half was Bournemouth’s undoing.
Katie James (Image: Richard Crease)
“I think you could probably see they had a lot of pace up front,” James said on Bedford’s approach.
“They caught us a couple of times in transition in the first half, and we didn't deal with it well in the second half at all either. So yeah, something that we can reflect on and get better at for next week.”
James said it was nice to get her goal but it didn’t mean much when they were beaten. She added that they now must focus on the remaining two games and put themselves in the position to qualify for the playoff should results elsewhere go their way.
She said: “We can do what we can and then just hope that Bedford do a job on Plymouth like they have us.
“And yeah, fingers crossed that they can get a result on the final day.”