It was our third win in a week in the wake of the announcement that City’s long-serving manager is to leave the Club and take up a new post with New York City FC next month.
But rather than having been deflected by the news, Cushing’s players have stepped up their focus and intensity with today’s victory moving them back to the top of the table on goal difference in the wake of Arsenal’s 4-1 home loss to Chelsea.
Ellen White got City off to a flying start at Damson Park with a goal inside 35 seconds and Keira Walsh then secured victory with a brilliant strike midway through the second half.
Reflecting on the win, Cushing said it merely reinforced the focus and drive running through the entire squad.
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“These games are difficult, and these games are so competitive now and maybe the emotion and complexity of saying I’m leaving could have affected the squad,” Cushing reflected.
“But they are so professional, and we’ve also got some really experienced professionals here and some very motivated young professionals and they have shown that they have a huge desire to win trophies this year… whether I’m here or not.
“This has always been a difficult place for us to come, we’ve had some real difficult games here in the past.
“Scoring early helped today but I thought we could have been a little bit better in terms of getting a second goals in the first half but the second gave us full control.
“We played Sheffield United in midweek where Pauline (Bremer) scored a hat trick, but Ellen was a bit frustrated as she had two or three good chances that she would normally take.
“So today she was really motivated and to score so early just settled everybody down and the made the game more complex for Birmingham.
“We probably need to better offensively in the final third but having come out of the game with a clean sheet and a win makes us confident.”
Ahead of his departure for America in a fortnight, City have two huge games on the horizon - next Saturday’s FA Cup fourth derby away to Manchester United followed by his final match in charge – a pivotal league clash at the Academy Stadium against leaders Arsenal.
And Cushing said there would be no lack of incentive for his players ahead of next week’s trip to tackle United.
“We have United away which is difficult. We lost there in the Continental Cup earlier this season even though we played quite well and our players will be hugely motivated,” the manager added.
“We hold the FA Cup and we want to make sure were still inthe hat for the next round.”
