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Wimbledon ready to take on Vixens

Women's Football FA Women's Cup News - 1 Feb 2019

AFC Wimbledon manager Chris Lyons is confident that his team can acquit themselves well when they take on Bristol City in the SSE Women's FA Cup on Sunday.

In terms of league positions, the Dons are the lowest ranked team left in the competition but they will host the Fourth Round tie at Carshalton and Lyons insists that they are not going there just to make up the numbers against the FA WSL side.

"We've watched their online videos and read most of their recent match reports, but as much as you can watch a team, they can mix it up on the day and do something very different," he told Women's Soccer Scene. "Bristol have the advantage that they are training every day, so they can work on new strategies, and in much more detail than the time we have with our players.

"We're going into the game as massive underdogs, but that's the beauty of this competition. There's no pressure on us, so we'll approach the game full of confidence and belief."

AFC Wimbledon have beaten sides such as Portsmouth and Hull City on their cup run so far but Lyons admits that taking on City, who are having a fine season in the top flight so far, will be a different challenge altogether.

"There is approximately 34 league spaces between us, and although that doesn't sound a lot, we'd need three promotions and a massive input of money, to get into the full time top tier of women's football," he said. "We're training twice a week, and they're full time with all the backroom support the players need, competing against the likes of Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal. I think they recently had twelve players away on international duty so if you take everything into context there is a massive gulf between us and them.

"But we will try to bridge the gap with as much hard work, determination and belief in each other as we can. We're not rocking up on Sunday ready to be rolled over; we've earned the right to play them and we're fully focused on the challenge ahead."