Sunderland Women Head Coach Mel Reay previewed Sunday’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup clash against WSL side Manchester United Women.
The Lasses have won four of their last five games – three out of four in 2023 – and Reay highlighted the positivity in the camp following some impressive results and performances.
“We’re delighted. The girls worked really hard over the Christmas period. Although results didn’t go our way we hit the restart button and put the focus onto the second half of the season,” Reay said.
“It started really positively with the FA Cup game against Blackburn, squeezed in a Conti Cup game in midweek before going into the Durham game.
“I thought we showed lots of resilience against Durham, going twice behind and win the game at the death was a fantastic moment for Katy [Watson] and everyone else involved with the club.
“Travelling over to Birmingham after they turned us over at the Stadium of Light. We always thought it was going to be a tough fixture but it certainly was our best performance to date. I thought we controlled the game from start to finish, we were excellent in both boxes and very much deserved all three points.”
With a superb comeback against Durham, and the win against Birmingham last weekend, the Lasses boss discussed the need to use the momentum going into the game.
“Winning breeds confidence. The players are confident and I think you get that extra ten per cent out of them. Everyone’s got a spring in their step, there’s a lot of noise this week because Man United are coming to town and it’s great.
“This is why we play football for moments like this. We’ll have a full house at Eppleton, with hopefully lots of noisy Sunderland fans cheering us on, and we’re all looking forward to the game.”
Reay also talked about the strengths of the opposition, with the visitors currently top of the first tier.
“I’m expecting a very tough game. Whichever team plays they’re going to be a team with mass experience, but I’m a very big believer that it’s on the day and who wants it most and who’s going to have their moments of quality.
“We’ve obviously got to try and make it difficult for them, and that’s where hopefully the crowd can play their part as well and we’ll certainly be up for the challenge.”
Finally, with a capacity crowd – the best attendance to date – Reay emphasised the importance of such a game.
“It’s a big occasion and we want these fans to come week in week out.
“It’s about growing the game and they’ll be coming to watch some of the WSL superstars, there’s no doubt about that but we’ve got the future generation playing in our team as well so hopefully they can pitch themselves up against the best players and we get that positive result.”