Head Coach Karen Hills previews Sunday’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup third-round Cup tie against MK Dons:
“We are looking forward to getting back on the grass and playing competitive games, and obviously, it’s a new year so Happy New Year to all the Charlton fans! I think it’s going to be a good half of the season coming up with lots to play for.”
“It is the first round of the FA Cup for us, it’s going to be a tough week but at the same time we were disappointed to not play (last month) because conditions didn’t allow that to happen but that wasn’t just us, I think that was across the board.”
“The players are in good spirits everyone’s come back in fantastic shape we have a lot of players back now fully fit. We’re looking forward to what’s to come we know it’s going to be tough obviously the first test will be MK Dons and the players are ready.”
MK Dons are currently one tier below the Addicks playing in the Southern Division of the FA WPL Premier Division, and Hills is under no illusion that Sunday will be another tough encounter:
“Yes, they are a tier below us but at the end of the day the FA Cup is 11 v 11 on the pitch it always starts at 0-0 so you’ve got to take every game and be as prepared for it as possible.”
She also reaffirms her desire to have a good run in the FA Cup stating:
“We want to go as far as we possibly can in the FA Cup, but we know we’ve got to focus on this game and this game is the most important game of this season so far. We’re fully prepared and fully focussed and hopefully, we can get our names into the next round.”
Hills also shared her delight following the news earlier this week that midfielder Lois Roche signed a new one-year contract keeping her at the club till January 2024 and praised her backroom staff for helping the 29-year-old recover from her ACL injury:
“Yeah, really pleased the medical team and the S&C department have done tremendous work over the past six months and Lois has been exceptional and focused to get herself back in contention and she’s just excited and ready to go she’s already been back on the training pitch for a couple of weeks now, before Christmas and now obviously fully back in.”
Both the FA Cup and Continental Cup fixtures were postponed before the Christmas break due to weather conditions, but Hills believes her side will be fully focused on both upcoming fixtures, she also touches on the January transfer market:
“There’s a little bit of a window of opportunity in January to potentially bring some new players in as well but we’re comfortable and confident with what we’ve got. Of course, we’ll be in the market to still be looking but at the same time, I am really pleased with the current squad, and I think we’ve got a fantastic group on and off the pitch.”
She continues, “We’re in good spirits but we know that there are probably going to be some bumps along the road throughout these four/five months coming up. But at the same time, the focus is now Milton Keynes, and we’ll go into that game fully focused and hopefully keep that winning mentality going.”
Click here for tickets: Charlton v MK Dons
