‘I thought we were excellent’ – Hills delighted with Charlton Athletic’s victory at Durham | OneFootball

Charlton Athletic head coach Karen Hills was delighted after her side recorded an important 1-0 win over Durham at Maiden Castle on Sunday afternoon.

In a game of few clear-cut chances, defender Elisha N’Dow popped up with the winning goal in the early stages of the match.

After taking just a point from their previous two league matches against Lewes and Reading, Charlton Athletic needed a big performance against Durham and head coach Hills was thrilled that her side delivered.

“We needed to put in a performance that we could be proud of,” Hills said when speaking to WSL Full-Time after the match. “We knew coming up to Durham is one of the toughest games of the season. The travelling takes it out of you and Durham are a solid team that play their way, they’re always hard to break down.

“Fair play to our girls, we got an early goal and I thought we were excellent. At the end, we managed the game in really difficult situations.

“These games are always tight and we had to work from minute one all the way to the very end. We just wanted to put that disappointment from last week behind us and to go back on the bus for six hours with three points is huge.”

Hills opted to field Jess Gray in goal rather than Sian Rogers and the youngster was arguably the Player of the Match after making some crucial saves late in the game to keep the scoreline at 1-0. Hills went on to praise Gray on the back of her excellent performance whilst explaining the reasons behind her inclusion in the starting XI.

She said “Jess is a person that’s just humble. She works really hard and she deserved her opportunity. We knew that they might give us different challenges that Jess is capable of dealing with. I thought she came in and proved why she’s an unbelievable goalkeeper.

“She came out for crosses in a calm, professional manner, claimed everything, came out for one v one situations and dealt with that, she was calm on the ball.

“She’s a young up and coming goalkeeper but I trust every single player that I’ve got in my squad this season. I will always give everyone opportunities if they’re working hard and I think the game is right for them. The game was right [for Jess] and thankfully, we’ve kept a clean sheet.”

Charlton Athletic are back in action on Sunday when they play host to neighbours London City Lionesses at The Valley.