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1 month ago
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The so-called magic of the cup is yet to truly cast its spell on the women’s game and London City Lionesses avoided a shock exit with a professional display to win at Sunderland.
Since the WSL kicked off in 2011, upsets in the cup have been rare; no side in the third tier or below has knocked out a top-tier club in the subsequent 15 years, and even second-tier clubs doing so has been a rarity.
Neither Birmingham beating top-tier Everton in 2023, nor an already-promoted Leicester winning at Manchester United in 2021, the two most recent such examples, could be remotely compared to Macclesfield’s men stunning Crystal Palace.
Nor admittedly would this tie if the second-tier side Sunderland had defied the 13 places between themselves and big-spending London City Lionesses, but it would still have been a surprise injection of drama into the increasingly predictable middle rounds of this competition.
A calm performance from London City dashed any chances of that, and Wassa Sangaré’s glancing header from a Grace Geyoro corner early in the second half gave them the lead in this tie. They then dominated most of the possession thereafter and their neat footwork, and the arrival of one of Sweden’s greatest ever players, Kosovare Asllani, from the bench only added to their control.
It followed an away victory for another of the WSL’s London clubs, West Ham, away at nearby Newcastle on Friday night, with Rita Guarino’s side claiming a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Viviane Asseyi, Riko Ueki and Sarah Brasero-Carreira. So it was over to Sunderland to try their best.
And here, in theory, the scene was set for a quintessential cup upset as the dark outline of an unwelcoming-looking row of deciduous trees flanked one side of the ground stood under a low cloud, with fans leaning on the side of railings as they held steaming cups of coffee and a Ha’way the Lasses’ flag hanging from a brick wall behind one goal and a queue for a cafe winding behind the other.
On the pitch Sunderland, who were 5-1 winners away at Derby in the third round in December, were hosting a London City side whose new head coach Eder Maestre was taking charge of only his second game in English football after a goalless draw at Liverpool in his WSL managerial debut. The slight bobbles in the pitch at the Eppleton Colliery Football Ground will have felt a world away from his previous job managing in Tenerife.
Sunderland battled and set pieces offered them some glimmers, but Rhiannon Roberts’ blocked shot was perhaps as close as they came, while at the other end, their goalkeeper Grace Moloney did well to punch the ball clear when Isobel Goodwin had looked set to head home. In the middle of the pitch the class of Geyoro was obvious, making the pitch look like a carpet.
To their credit Melanie Reay’s side defended well to keep the scoreline at 1-0 but the visitors were rarely troubled at the other end and Maestre got his first win in charge.
