WCH:Lewes(H)LondonCityLionesses

 Sunday 14th February

Lewes 2 London City Lionesses 3

From the Sussex Express:

Umotong on target but Lewes are beaten by London City Lionesses

Ellie Mason’s last-gasp goal saw London City Lionesses claim a white-knuckle 3-2 win over Lewes in the FA Women’s Championship.

Lewes lost by the odd goal in five to London City Lionesses / Picture: Getty

Ini Umotong scored her first goal for Lewes to give the home side the lead but two goals in four minutes from Atlanta Primus followed by a brilliant Kallie Balfour strike changed that.

Umotong converted a penalty in injury time that looked to have earned Lewes a point they deserved, but Mason poked home in injury time to give Lionesses a third straight victory.

The visitors started the brighter with Primus almost beating Tatiana Saunders at her near post. Lewes capitalised as a whipped Emma Jones delivery was first met by Lucy Ashworth-Clifford, before Umotong calmly eased the ball into the roof of the net.

The Lionesses response was emphatic, as they struck twice in quick succession. Alli Murphy instigated their equaliser, her teasing delivery not cleanly grasped by Saunders and Primus made her pay for the error, lashing the ball hard past the stricken keeper.

And, just moments later, Balfour provided the game’s moment of outstanding quality. Lily Agg made a nuisance of herself in the penalty area and as Lewes dithered in clearing the ball, Balfour unleashed a spectacular half-volley to beat Saunders all ends up.

Simon Parker’s re-shaped unit grew into an increasingly scrappy contest, with Umotong heading just wide and Zoe Cross working Yanez from long-range.

Alli Murphy blazed over from the penalty spot when she had the opportunity to make the game safe for the Lionesses, and when Umotong calmly slotted home eight minutes from time, it looked as if her miss would be costly.

Mason saved the day, though, as she snuck home a bouncing ball from a corner to move her side into the top four.

Lewes manager Parker said: “We’re obviously devastated to lose. I actually feel we were the better side in the second half and probably on the whole a draw is fair.

“We started well, then we got very poor for a period of that first half. We were just very open, the players were quite passive and I think they were caught in two minds whether to press, who to press and they were just getting played apart.

“We made a couple of little tweaks and the shape then looked better defensively. We created some good opportunities but it’s gutting to lose.

“We’re not realistically going to win the league and I believe we have too much to be relegated so what we’re looking at now is just trying to get into those habits of let’s not give up, let’s go for the win. We want to lay all the foundations for next season, now.”

London City Lionesses head coach Mel Phillips said: "We squeaked that one out. It ended up being a much more emotional game than we had anticipated.

“I’m incredibly pleased with the way we responded after going a goal down and then being equalized on. The group is always relentless and they’re always hungry and they just continued to shine through today.

“This team just continues to show so much character in how they’re growing and how they’re challenging themselves together, and they never sway from that. That’s always going to help us create long-term success.

“I still believed at 2-2. That’s something that is really foundational in our group, and that’s belief. We talk about that more than we talk about confidence and that you continue to believe good things are going to happen.

“Our identity is tough, it’s hard-nosed, it’s organised, it’s competitive, it’s fit and it’s always believing we are in it. For me, we want to continue to push as high as we can go. It’s Coventry next, and we just continue to build.”

Lewes (4-2-3-1): Tatiana Saunders; Sophie O’Rourke, Nicola Cousins, Rhian Cleverly (c), Sammy Quayle; Ellie Leek, Mollie Rouse; Emma Jones, Zoe Cross, Lucy Ashworth-Clifford; Ini Umotong. Substitutes: Charley Boswell for Quayle 46, Georgia Timms for Cross 70, Katie Rood for Ashworth-Clifford 70, Simran Jhamat for Jones 90. Substitutes not used: Laura Hartley (gk), Danni Lane, Ellie Hack, Filippa Savva, Megan Mackey

Goals: Umotong 11, 82 (pen)