7 hours ago

By sunderland afc

Share

Head Coach Mel Reay expressed her frustration after her side suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to league leaders Charlton Athletic in the Barclays Women’s Super League 2. 

Despite delivering a dominant display at The Valley, Amalie Thestrup’s first-half strike proved decisive, securing all three points for the hosts against a determined ten-woman Sunderland.

“We are disappointed to leave with nothing,” she said. “I thought we deserved more out of the game. We were really competitive, which was similar to our midweek fixture against Nottingham Forest.

“There wasn’t much in both boxes, and our structure defensively was really good and in possession, we had some good moments.

“We back ourselves to go toe-to-toe with anyone in this league and get a result. I think the players feel hard done by with some of the decisions today.”

Reay praised the Lasses’ response after they were reduced to ten players for the final 15 minutes following the dismissal of defender Louise Griffiths.

“It shows the true team spirit and togetherness we’ve got in this group,” she added. “We were the better team in the final 15 minutes with 10 players, and for the majority of the game.

“We were calm in possession and moved the ball into good areas,” Reay described. “It just didn’t quite click in the final third to create a clear-cut opportunity.

“I’m proud of the group and pleased they went to the end, but we can’t feel sorry for ourselves despite the result.

“We now need to pick ourselves up and recover well to be ready for Sheffield United on Wednesday night.”