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London City Lionesses are hoping to bounce back from their 1-0 defeat to Durham last weekend when they travel away to Coventry United on Sunday.
In the previous fixture between the Lionesses and Coventry, the Lionesses took all 3 points in the entertaining match finishing 3-2.
The Lionesses will be targeting another 3 points, as they continue to rise up the table and test the top 4, against Coventry who currently sit at the bottom of the Championship.
Reflecting on Sunday’s defeat against Durham and the Lionesses’ development, Lionesses Head Coach Melissa Phillips said “We celebrate the small victories as a team, and Durham’s the only team who has turned us twice to get six points off us."
“We started the year with four games without really a result and then we are able to turn those into results when we faced those teams a second time, apart from Durham. They’re a quality team at the top of the league, credit to them and their mentality and how tough they are to breakdown."
“But we’re incredibly pleased with the progress we made from the beginning of the season and we've got other opportunities still ahead of us to continue climbing, continue proving ourselves, and also right another result when it comes to Liverpool at the end of the season."
“We will always look to develop ourselves and make sure that we're prepared. Everything we do is about building our identity for the future moving forward. I think that the players are doing such a great job learning about themselves, growing, stretching, and challenging themselves."
“We don’t take a single one of these four remaining matches for granted because it'll be over before we know it and we want to continue to prove ourselves throughout the rest of the season but making sure that everything that we do is a building block for the future”.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s fixture on Sunday, Phillips commented “Coventry’s a tough opposition to play against. They're good in attacking transitions, they play with a lot of determination and they had a good run of form at the beginning of the season."
“We know that we will have to be sharp, and we’ll have to be focused for the full 90 minutes against them”.
In response to the latest news regarding COVID-19 restrictions and potentially the opportunity of spectators returning to match-days, Phillips said “I would say that we're most excited to welcome families, in addition to the supporters. The players’ families being able to see them play whether it be streamed or live, I think that's going to be really exciting for the girls. They've had to persevere and have sacrificed a lot this season with the restrictions and with all the rules that COVID-19 presents. They’re doing a really great job continuing to act professionally throughout this time, so I think that the greatest part is that we get to share these experiences with the players’ families”.
Lionesses’ goalkeeper Shae Yanez has been one of the standout performers this season. When reflecting on the defeat to Durham she said “You can't just sit back and dwell on the losses. You have to take what you can learn from them and move on to the next game because there is only a week between games. You can’t just continue to think about the loss."
Speaking about her first season in English football, Yanez said “I think it's gone pretty well. It's a little different being in lockdown as it’s something I've never really played in before. You have to adapt and do what you can and luckily we’re in a privileged position to still play the game we all love so no complaints there really”.
When asked what the most satisfying part of the season has been, Yanez said “The growth we've made from the beginning of the season until now. How we are as a team and the relationships we’ve built. Getting familiar with how each player plays and knowing their strengths and weaknesses so that we can all kind of adapt to that so I would say our growth has been the most satisfying aspect for me”.
You can follow the build-up to Sunday’s game at 2pm with the live match updates via the London City Lionesses Twitter feed.