London City Lionesses roar to comeback victory over the Blues

London City Lionesses, away at Birmingham City

It was a tale of two cities in our final match of the year, with London City completing a second-half comeback to defeat Birmingham City 2-1 in the Continental Cup.

The Lionesses and Blues traded chances before the break, with Sarah Ewens narrowly missing an opportunity to fire the away side into the lead from the top of the box on the 17-minute mark.

Moments later, debutant goalkeeper Hermione Cull was called into action at the other end and produced two instinctive stops to keep the score level after a wave of pressure from the hosts.

However, it was the Blues who broke the deadlock with two minutes left to play in the first-half. Lucy Quinn was the first player to connect with a wicked free-kick delivery from Siobhan Wilson, which saw the ball bounce over the line after a deflection in a crowded penalty area.

But the Lionesses roared back just two minutes after the restart, with Ewens beating Lucy Thomas with a low shot into the bottom left corner.

London City continued to raise the bar as the second-half advanced, forcing Thomas into a double-save just after the hour mark.

By then, Melissa Phillips had already called on all three of her outfield substitutes, with Jaime-Lee Napier, Shanade Hopcroft, and Lois Heuchan adding extra firepower to an already commanding attack.

With the match just two minutes away from a penalty shootout finale, Ewens fired the ball into the roof of the net to secure a memorable victory for the Lionesses.

“You always want to score when you play your old club, so I was happy to get two,” a thrilled Ewens explained at full-time. “It’s good to get a win and to end the first half of the season with a good performance and a solid win. I’m really pleased with that.”

Head Coach Phillips added: “It was another brilliant team performance to finish the year. We really managed the game well in all aspects, scored two brilliant goals, and really asserted ourselves in the second half. [You] could tell the goals were coming as we were on the front foot throughout... it's lovely to end the year on a high and close out an incredible first half of the season."

The Lionesses will return to the field on Sunday, 8 January to take on Portsmouth in the third round of the FA Cup, secure your tickets now.