London City Lionesses recorded their first win of the new Barclays Women’s Championship season as they scraped past Watford with a 3-2 victory at Princes Park this afternoon.
Connie Scofield, Danielle Carter and Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah were on target for The Pride as they saw off a plucky opponent who pushed hard for a share of the spoils.
When speaking after the match, London City Lionesses head coach Carolina Morace recognised that her side are still very much in a transition period.
“We have a new style to play and the team is pretty new,” she said. “It is important that we play in a good way but it’s also important to score.
“In the last game, we played well but at the end of the day, the opponent had more chances than us. Today, we showed for the first time, that we know what we are doing.”
The match looked to be done when London City Lionesses took a two-goal advantage in the second half thanks to Boye-Hlorkah’s long range effort. However, Watford brought themselves back to within a goal just minutes later and Morace identified this moment as an area for improvement for her team.
The Italian said “When we were at 3-1, we needed to be smarter to keep the ball, to keep possession and not to give the chance to them to score one goal immediately. That caused us a lot of problems.”
London City Lionesses have significantly bolstered their squad over the summer with the addition of several players with Barclays Women’s Super League experience. One of those players, Danielle Carter, delivered an outstanding goal to put her team in front in the opening 45 minutes.
“She is a humble player,” Morace said when commenting on Carter’s qualities. “She is a model professional for all other players.
“She pushes herself and pushes all of the others. If the other players can see that she pushes herself to the limit, of course they push themselves to the limit too.”
It wasn’t just the performances of the goalscorers that won the match for London City Lionesses. Goalkeeper Grace Moloney pulled off some superb saves to keep her team ahead when Watford were piling on the pressure. Morace has been impressed by the former Reading stopper since her arrival at the club.
She said “She is one of the best keepers that I have seen in all my career.
“We knew she was like that. We tried everything to convince her to come and we are glad that she chose us.”
Watford have been tipped to struggle following their promotion last season. However, they certainly didn’t look like a newly-promoted side on the evidence of their performance at Princes Park. They could’ve easily walked away with a point or even more.
“I think the league is very difficult,” Morace said. “They drew their first match of the season and I think that gave them some confidence. They are an organised team; at this level, we need to be organised.”
London City Lionesses are back in action again next Sunday when Reading are the visitors to Princes Park.
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