London City Lionesses interim boss Nikita Runnacles praised her side’s performance despite going down 5-0 to Tottenham Hotspur in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round yesterday.
The Pride suffered a heavy defeat at The Breyer Group Stadium but there were some bright elements to their performance.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time after the match, London City Lionesses’ stand-in boss Runnacles was disappointed with the scoreline but she saw positives in her side’s performance.
“First half performance, I was really pleased with them,” Runnacles said. “It’s been a tough week and that’s all we wanted today, a good performance.
“We’re disappointed with the scoreline and how big it is but in terms of our performance, we have to take that into next week.
“I thought we came out with the right mindset, I thought we took the game to them and put them under pressure and looked like we were going get a goal. That’s exactly what we needed in that first 10 minutes so for them to then go up the other end and get a goal hurt us for a bit. We got compact for the next 10-15 minutes so then we went again and I thought we had another couple of opportunities to get a goal. Again, we don’t get it and they go up the other end and get the goal just before half-time.”
London City Lionesses are pushing for promotion to the Barclays Women’s Super League and currently top the Barclays Women’s Championship table. The opportunity to go up against a top tier side in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup proved to be educational for the team.
“That’s where we want to be, so that’s why we felt it was really important to come here today and take the game to them,” Runnacles added. “These are the moments that you want to see where you can hurt WSL sides and the areas we need to learn on.
“We’ve just spoken as a team about being tested in our own box. We’re a high in-possession team in our league, so they’re the moments that we get to go away and focus on and make sure we pride ourselves on getting those clean sheets back as early as possible.”
Off the pitch, it was a tough week for London City Lionesses. Former boss Melissa Phillips announced her shock departure last Monday which then saw Runnacles step into big shoes as interim head coach.
“This group of players and Melissa, who put it all together, are really special, so I feel absolutely privileged to step in and drive this and get the job finished,” Runnacles said. “We miss Melissa dearly, of course we do, but the determination the players have shown just motivates me day-by-day to work with them.
“There’s lots and lots to take to the training ground and some really positive moments. We know that if we start games like that, we have a really good opportunity to get some early goals and that’s exactly how we’ll be approaching the games moving forward.”
London City Lionesses return to action on Sunday when Sunderland are the visitors to Princes Park in the Barclays Women’s Championship.