Match Report: Southampton 0-1 London City Lionesses (03/10/24)

Maddi Wilde fired London City Lionesses to a 1-0 win over Southampton to open the Pride’s Women’s League Cup campaign on Thursday [3 October].

Jocelyn Prêcheur made a handful of alterations for his side’s trip to the South Coast, with Grace Moloney, Gesa Marashi, Lucy Fitzgerald, Maddi Wilde, and Cerys Brown stepping into the starting eleven in place of Emily Orman, Kosovare Asllani, Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah, Teyah Goldie, and Emma Mukandi.

In a tactical affair, with neither side creating a wealth of chances, set-pieces ultimately proved decisive.

There were close-calls in the first-half, most notably when Lucy Fitzgerald saw a driven shot hooked off the line, but the outcome of the match was decided with just five minutes remaining, when Wilde converted at the near post following a driven corner delivery.

“Nothing is perfect, but my feeling is we are improving and imposing our philosophy one step at a time,” said Prêcheur at full-time.

“We try to play as a team and that is what I will remember from tonight as we changed a lot of players and still came out with the win. I really wanted to involve the younger players, it was a difficult task, but they made an impact and now they know how they need to improve. It means there is an understanding of how we play – and I am very happy with that.”