London Bees Head Coach Lee Burch is pleased to be back on home soil as we the Bees welcome Charlton Athletic to The Hive London this Sunday in Conti Cup action.
The Bees sit fourth in the group heading into the match with the Addicks but know that three points could take them into the top two spots in the group heading into the final three matches.
“We are in a group with four professional sides out of six, so we are always up against it. But we will go into the game looking to win as we do for every game, but we will use the game to give minutes to some who haven’t played. It’s a good opportunity to test ourselves against a good Charlton side.”
“They (Charlton) have had a tough start in terms of fixtures in both the league and the Conti Cup. They are very much in a false position at the moment, they have some really good individual players. Even though it is a cup game they will look to use this week to build some momentum”.
Despite winning against City Lionesses in our last Conti Cup fixture, the Bees record against teams in the capital has been difficult in recent times. The Bees suffered a last-minute defeat to Crystal Palace last time out and find themselves with yet another home London derby this weekend. Burch is looking to pick up more positive results from these types of fixtures.
“There’s nothing worse than losing a game in the way that we did, so it’s great to go straight into another game. It gives us an opportunity to right a few wrongs”
“We haven’t done particularly well in London derbies over the last year, so we need to start putting that right.”
The boss will look to freshen things up on home soil this week and give opportunities to those who haven’t featured over the previous two fixtures, but he believes the competition in the squad is healthy going into a tough and busy winter period.
“The players are in a position where competition is hotting up. We made a few changes in the last two games and now I can reflect on the ones that I got right and perhaps the ones I didn’t.”
“Every time a player steps out in a London Bees shirt, they have an opportunity to push forward. There are players who haven’t been able to get going, we have Georgie Giddings, Courtnay Ward-Chambers and Lucy Loomes ready to go, so I am excited to see these sort of players get their first starts in a Bees shirt.”
You can listen to Burch’s full uncut interview below or at the top of the page!