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London City Lionesses are back in action after a couple of weekends without a fixture as they travel to The Dripping Pan stadium home of Championship rivals Lewes. After the game against Durham last Sunday was postponed, the Lionesses will be re-energised ahead of Sunday’s game.
London City go into the away fixture against Lewes on the back of 5 games unbeaten and back to back wins. With the Lionesses in good form ahead of this fixture, they will be aiming to continue their good run against a Lewes team that has won just 1 game in their previous 4.
In the reverse fixture between the two sides, Lewes took all 3 points in a tightly contested 1-0 win.
Speaking to Lionesses Head Coach Mel Phillips about how last weekend’s match postponement impacted the squad she said “The postponement, while it was disheartening, just leaves us hungry and motivated and feeling fresh."
“Ultimately we got a few days of unplanned rest which is always great and enabled us to come out to training this week and really attack it. We’re not overly frustrated by it; we know that we continue to create our own momentum week to week”.
Lewes sit one spot and 1 point behind the Lionesses, but with a game in hand. With the game on Sunday expected to be a tough fixture Phillips commented “Every game is an opportunity for us to strive towards our goals."
“We don't look as much at the table and where a team is, but we look at their strengths, their opportunities to exploit, and how we best prepare ourselves in the week for the performance ahead."
“We know it will be a big game but that's how we treat every game, every game is as big as the next and we prepare accordingly."
“Lewes is incredibly capable on both sides of the ball; their new signings have added value and contributed a tremendous amount. We know that they'll have a little bit of a different look to them, so we know that we’ll have to be on top form."
“It's really just about breaking down the game into smaller numbers and battles in different areas of the field. Focusing on the details in little wide pockets or the details in how we play in our build-up."
“Ultimately, we want to go out and compete, that's the most important thing to us. Matches that we work hard, we’re competitive, we respond quickly, we adapt within the game, gives us the best opportunity to get a result”.
Talking to Lionesses’ new signing Nina Wilson ahead of Sunday’s fixture and how she’s settling into the squad even with the restrictions of COVID-19, the goalkeeper said “It's been great. It's a kind of setup that I enjoy coming to every day. It's such a breath of fresh air the way that things are being done here."
“There's so much focus on the culture and our mindset and it's something that we work on every single day. So, it's somewhere that I really feel I’m getting better every day and I'm being pushed every day."
“I look forward to training and when training finishes, I'm looking forward to the next training session. I'm excited to see where the team can go, and I've been really welcomed by the whole team and all the staff”.
“It's always going to be challenging coming into team midseason and COVID doesn't really change that. But like I said, it's been so welcoming here."
“We’re always in contact with each other and we're still building that togetherness, even though we can't necessarily see each other in person as much. We're building that culture still away from the pitch so that when we're on the pitch, we're making the most of the time that we do get together."
“We've got such a great togetherness here that we're not going to let the restrictions effect that”.
Speaking about Wilson’s long-term football ambitions she said “It's just to become my best and I say that a lot because it's something that is really important to me, to reach a level that I’ve not seen before in my career."
“I'm just wanting to better myself every day and just see where that takes me."
“I'm hoping to help the team in some way this season, we're sitting in a good place in the league and I hope we can challenge to go even higher”.
You can follow the build-up to Sunday's game at 2pm along with live match updates via the London City Lionesses Twitter feed.