London City Lionesses head coach Melissa Phillips says that her side are expecting another game of fine lines against Charlton Athletic this afternoon.
The Pride suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to promotion rivals Crystal Palace at Princes Park last weekend. Only Charlton Athletic recorded a victory by more than a single goal on the opening weekend of action in the Barclays Women’s Championship with The Addicks winning 2-0 at Southampton.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time ahead of her side’s latest game, London City Lionesses head coach Phillips said that she is expecting another tight match against the club’s closest rivals this afternoon.
“We spoke about how tight every game was (last weekend) and we fully expect it to be the same way,” Phillips said. “There were a lot of 1-0 or 1-1 results, Charlton came away with the only 2-0 result.
“They’re in good form, they’ve got a lot of key returners in their line-up and have strength with the likes of Simpkins, Mel Johnson and others in the squad. They’ve got a very distinct style of play, very good out of possession so we know that they will be difficult to break down, they had a number of clean sheets last season.
“We are confident in our ability to create chances, it is just about staying focused, executing in front of goal and being as rigid as we were in the previous game. We are incredibly adaptable so as the game settles and goes on, we will have the ability to execute in different areas on both sides of the ball and that’s what we will look to do.”
With games against Crystal Palace, Charlton Athletic and Bristol City in their first three fixtures, it is a tough start to the season for London City Lionesses. Phillips went on to say that the club need to negotiate those kind of challenges if they are to win a league title.
She said “We know that to win a league, you have to get through these games whether it’s a handful of derby games to start….we’ve got Bristol after that. It’s a tough slate in the first six but it’s where we want to be, we take it one game at a time and ultimately, look to put ourselves in the best position possible.”
London City Lionesses’ Barclays Women’s Championship fixture at Charlton Athletic kicks-off at 4.30pm.