‘We will be at our best’ – Sunderland aiming to end season with a win says Reay | OneFootball

Sunderland manager Melanie Reay says that there’s lots to play for on the final day of the season and that her side will be looking to end with a win.

The Lady Black Cats end the campaign with a fixture against Barclays Women’s Championship champions-in-waiting Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park.

Sunderland have narrowly missed out on the title themselves but despite the game being a ‘dead rubber’, manager Reay says that she wants her side to complete the season doing everything that they can to finish as runners-up.

“We’ve never been beaten twice-in-a-row this season, so we can take some hope from that,” Reay said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.

“There’s still a lot to play for. We want to finish second and we know that’s not fully in our hands but we have to get three points to make that happen. Claudia [Moan] can still win the Golden Glove and the squad are determined to try and get a clean sheet so that she can get her personal accolade which would be brilliant for her.

“We know that there are fans travelling to the game on a supporters’ bus, people are paying good money to come and watch us, so we will be at our best to try and get three points.”

Sunderland’s fortunes have been transformed this season. After ending the 2022/2023 campaign in 11th position, the Wearside club so nearly achieved promotion back to the Barclays Women’s Super League this term. Reay said that this season’s successes have been a result of the collective effort at the club.

She said “Once the Palace game has been played and we have some true reflections, I will be immensely proud of the squad; I am proud of them, not only of the players but the staff as well. A lot of hard work goes in behind-the-scenes and it has been a true team effort to get to where we have done this season.

“We’ve given ourselves a marvellous platform to build on and hopefully, we can go a little bit further next season as well.”

Sunderland’s Barclays Women’s Championship fixture at Crystal Palace kicks-off at 2pm this afternoon.