Both teams warming up at the Princes Park Dartford FC stadium London City Lionesses v Sheffield United Women, Womens Championship football match, Princes Park Stadium, Dartford, UK - 06 Sep 2020 Photo: Robin Parker for The FA

London City Lionesses assistant expecting a ‘real challenge’ from Lewes

London City Lionesses assistant head coach Melissa Phillips believes that Sunday’s FA Women’s Championship fixture against Lewes at Princes Park will be a real challenge.

The Pride are winless in their opening three matches in the FA Women’s Championship and come up against a Lewes side who recorded their first victory over Coventry United at The Dripping Pan last weekend.

Lewes boss Simon Parker has put together a youthful squad with a blend of international experience and they are expected to provide London City Lionesses with a real test in Dartford on Sunday according to The Pride’s assistant head coach Phillips.

“We actually faced them (Lewes) quite early on in pre-season back in August” said Phillips when speaking to FA Women’s Super League Full-Time in London City Lionesses’ weekly club press conference. “They are an incredibly hard-working team and they are difficult to break down so it will be a real challenge for us just like the previous last three matches have been.

“It is an incredibly tough league this year, every team has done an exceptional job throughout the pandemic to really develop their teams.

“We will focus on ourselves and we learnt a lot from the last match and areas that we need to grow and challenge ourselves with.”

Lewes have proved to be tough opponents for both Durham and Coventry United so far this season with The Rookettes being particularly difficult to break down. London City Lionesses assistant head coach Phillips believes that her side are working hard to be mentally right for what will be a competitive fixture on Sunday.

She added “Being competitive is something that we talk about week in and week out and really developing our mindset and mentality to push on.

“Again, it is going to be a 90 minutes-plus match to decide the winner and ultimately, we are going to put our best foot forward to break them down.

“It will be about competing but it is about focusing on ourselves and doing what we do best at a really high level.”

London City Lionesses have put together a strong squad this season which has real depth. Two changes were made for the game at Durham at the weekend and Phillips is not ruling out further tweaks to the starting XI for the Lewes fixture this weekend.

“The beauty of our group is that we have a lot of depth and strength in numbers.

“Each week there is an opportunity to really challenge ourselves in training sessions because there is that depth there.

“We select the team based on whether players have been performing at a high level each week and that allows players an opportunity to jump into that line-up.

“The group that will play will be those who are competing, working hard, executing the game plan and ultimately, pushing forward for the team.”

London City Lionesses’ FA Women’s Championship fixture against Lewes at Princes Park kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon with highlights available to watch on the FA Player.

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