Women's football news
Written by: Joe
Lewes interim manager Craig Gill expects another high-tempo performance from the Rooks when they rock up at Crystal Palace this Sunday.
Lewes beat Sunderland 2-0 at the weekend and can leapfrog Palace with a victory in London.
The two sides drew 1-1 in the Conti Cup back in October and face off in the league for the first time this season.
And Gill believes another combative contest will play into the Rooks’ hands.
“Training this week has been extremely high-energy and good quality, buoyed by the positive result against Sunderland,” says Gill.
“And we’re looking to take that energy into the game against Palace on Sunday. It’s been competitive, we’ve worked on different passages of play this week, which will hopefully come to fruition against Palace.
“But we know going to Palace will be a tough game. Prior to their loss to Liverpool last week they were on a good run in the league, and unbeaten in several games.
“We know it’s going to be difficult and we know we’ll have to be at our best to get a result. But if we can repeat the performance we gave against Sunderland hopefully it will be a positive outcome.”
Performance more important than victory
Lewes beat Sunderland thanks to goals from Izzy Dalton and Ellie Mason.
And Gill has had time to reflect on that result and witness the subsequent boost that three points has given his players in training.
“We’re very pleased with the win over Sunderland but more importantly with the performance, especially after the defeat to Charlton,” he adds.
“The girls applied themselves particularly well in the Sunderland game and learned lots of lessons. We got back to our usual levels of high energy and high quality, and showed great discipline especially when we went down to 10 players. We played with 10 for a long period but maintained the 2-0 lead.
“We got two good goals. Izzy with her left foot for her first goal for the club, and then Ellie coming back from a long-term injury to play superbly well at left-back and scoring as well!
“I think her last goal before that injury was against Lewes at the same end! I’m really pleased for Ellie because she’s shown great professionalism and resilience to come back from that injury.”
Crystal Palace vs Lewes kicks off at 2pm on Sunday from Hayes Lane.