London City Lionesses travel to the south coast to face WSL side Brighton & Hove Albion Women

Fresh from the 1-0 victory over Sheffield United, the London City Lionesses are back in action once again to take on Brighton Women in the Continental Cup.

It was a dominant performance by the home side, with the Lionesses dictating play in possession, leaving the visitors with very few options going forward.

An own goal by the Blades keeper proved the difference in the end, with the one goal enough to see City continue their unbeaten run at home in the league and climb up to second in the Championship table.

For manager Melissa Phillips, the performance was a source of great pride to her and her coaching staff.

“It was another resilient team performance for us. The most important thing is that we go out and we execute the things that we're working on and we work hard at them. We have players who can come on at any given moment and really contribute to the energy and impact within the game plan as well.”

Off the back of such a strong team performance, it’s clear that it was going to have a positive impact on the feeling around the team.

“The mood in camp is positive, but we are all hungry to keep pushing on.

“It’s a long season and results speak in the end, so we are just focused on our growth each game and the next opportunity to go out and perform together.”

Yet this has been a demanding week for the players, with three games in the space of seven days hardly anything to take lightly. With that in mind, the balance between play and rest has been of great importance this week.

“Recovery is so important this week so we can go out and compete again. We have to make sure we take care of the little details, so we are fresh mentally and physically.

“We always regroup, reflect and focus on the things within our control. Next up is Brighton and we will put all our focus into that match.”

Indeed, whilst the home form of the team has been strong, away, the results have been harder to come by.

“I think we’ve played well on the road as well and for us it's always just going to be focusing on the performance. And so that comes with competing, staying organized and imposing our identity when we’re away from home.”

In Brighton, the Lionesses are going to be coming up against a strong WSL side, with the Seagulls sitting in third in the WSL table and proving to be difficult customers for many sides.

“Brighton are in fantastic form at the moment,” remarked Phillips, “they’ve had a good run of games to start the first half of the WSL season.

“We know they will challenge us in different ways and ultimately it will be be a great opportunity to test ourselves against a top three side at the moment.

“We know we are capable of competing in these Cup games against a strong line-up of opposition. It will take a full team effort, but we have a group where everyone will be ready.”

London City kick-off against Brighton at 7:00pm. Check out the game live on Brighton’s YouTube channel.