Allen hails London City Lionesses’ response in victory at Reading | OneFootball

London City Lionesses head coach Remi Allen praised her side for their response to going a goal down in their 2-1 victory over Reading at The Select Car Leasing Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Paige Satchell and Emma Mukandi’s second half goals helped The Pride overturn a 1-0 deficit and claim their first Barclays Women’s Championship win since November. It was also the first victory for London City Lionesses’ newly-appointed head coach Allen.

When speaking to WSL Full-Time after the match, Allen praised the team for their attitude and response to falling behind in the first half.

“Naturally, the momentum tends to swing after each team scores and we saw that today,” Allen said. “I think we dealt with the pushback, following our goals well across the board, although we will look at how quickly our defence drops deep because I feel that we can defend higher and I want us to be brave with that.

“The players showed experience and nous in terms of how they managed the game and slowed the opposition down and I’m proud of them for that.”

Allen comes into her new role with London City Lionesses after combining playing and coaching at former club Birmingham City, as well as serving as the England Under-23s assistant coach. She said that her experience will be important, however, the focus is on what London City Lionesses can do themselves.

She said “I obviously know the league having played in it and against many of the players we’ll come up against. It’s about us though. The priority for me coming in is to work with the girls on our structure and how we want to play. We’ll always profile the opposition, but there is some work to do with our team.

“We have lots of youth, talent, and experience, it’s now about blending it together as we look to put points on the board.”

London City Lionesses still have some work to do to retain their second tier status, but Allen believes that safety can be achieved with continued togetherness.

“In the huddle at the end of the game, I mentioned that the bench was kicking every ball in the final minutes,” she said. “I see a real togetherness when I look around and we’ll bring ourselves away from the bottom of the table if we keep that going forward.”

London City Lionesses are next in action when Sunderland visit Princes Park on Sunday 17 March 2024.