Mel Reay reflects on Sunderland's first win of the campaign and gives team news update ahead of latest test

The Black Cats landed their first win of the season at the fifth attempt last weekend with an impressive win over a strong Crystal Palace side, a clean sheet and goals from Emily Scarr and Katy Watson sealing three vital points.

The win saw Reay's long-term plan to add more pace and variety to her forward line come to fruition, with young striker Watson's goal in the closing stages underlining her blistering pace. Watson was voted the Barclays Women's Championship player of the week for her efforts.

"We were delighted to get the win, it had been coming," Reay said.

"Everything came together for us really. We were well prepared for how they were going to set up, we made a tweak to our shape after 15/20 minutes to help nullify their threat and we grew in confidence in possession from there. Our counterattacking was really good and to be fair, it could have been more in the end.

"We've got players with real strengths and they're going to be needed for different types of games. To bring on Katy, Tyler Dodds and Nicki Gears with half an hour to go, they've got that real physical profile of being sprinters and high-speed runners, it's a great way to go when other players on the pitch are maybe starting to get a little bit fatigued.

"Now it's about cracking on and maintaining those performance levels to get three points.

Sunderland return to Eppleton to face London City Lionesses on Sunday (12pm KO) in what will be another stern test. The visitors currently sit second in the Championship table and travel to the north east after scoring eight goals in their last two matches without conceding.

Sunday's game also marks the start of the For our Girls initiative, which sees the club working in tandem with other organisations in the local community to enhance profile and engagement of women's football across the city.

As a result, tickets for the game are on offer for £1 to children and students.

Reay says her group are well aware of the need to be right at the top of their game again, but hopes the first win of the campaign serves as motivation to kick on again.

"There's no easy games, they're a tough team to play against and they were tough games last year," she said.

"They're up there this season, and again it's another full-time team for us to compete against. We're focusing on ourselves, making sure we're good in and out of possession.

"We certainly aren't getting carried away after winning last weekend but it's a nice feeling and we want that to be a habit. There's been a real positive atmosphere this week, we've all had a real bounce in our step and we want more of that. We certainly want to wake up on Monday morning with that feeling again."

Reay will be selecting from an unchanged squad, with captain Keira Ramshaw closing in on a return from injury but not yet ready to feature.