Sunderland manager Melanie Reay says that she is proud of her players for their spirited performance against Manchester United in their Vitality Women’s FA Cup fourth round tie at The Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground yesterday.
The Lady Black Cats went down 2-1 against the Barclays Women’s Super League leaders. Sunderland showed character to come back from a goal down to level matters through Abby Holmes while they kept pushing forward even after falling behind for a second time soon after the equaliser.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time after the match, Sunderland boss Reay said that she was proud of her team’s efforts against a very strong Manchester United side.
“I’m proud of every single one of them, they’ve all put a massive shift in and gone toe-to-toe with some of the best players in the country,” Reay said. “Yes, we didn’t get the result but I’m really proud of all of them for that performance.”
It was far from ideal preparation for Sunderland who lost a couple of players before the game and then another in the first half. Reay was pleased with how her players stuck to the game plan.
She said “There was a lot of disruption before the game with Meg Beer and Emma Kelly failing a fitness test and Neve (Herron) having to come off after 20 minutes. It is all part of the game and the players have adapted well and still carried out the game plan like we asked them to do.
“When we got the equaliser, there was hope and belief that we might be able to get something but we were disappointed to concede again so early after scoring ourselves.”
Full-back Holmes put in a committed performance and was deserving of her goal. Reay said that the defender is the perfect role model.
“She’s a winner, she wants to win and she is a great role model for the group,” the Sunderland boss said. “She’s someone for the younger players to look up to because that’s how the game should be played.”
Sunderland are back in action on Sunday afternoon when they make the long trip to Dartford to take on London City Lionesses.
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