Sunderland defender fired up for big clash with Everton

Sunderland defender Victoria Williams says tonight's home league clash against Everton is bigger than Sunday's FA Cup clash with Manchester City.
Victoria WilliamsVictoria Williams
Victoria Williams

The Lady Black Cats went down 4-2 after extra-time to miss out on a place in the semi-finals.

The 27-year-old Williams believes she and her team-mates can take plenty of heart from their cup display though as they look to cast off the shackles against Everton.

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“You kind of always expect a team like Manchester City, with the strength in depth they’ve got, to dominate over extra-time – I think most of us had emptied the tank by 90,” said Williams.

“There were a lot of positives to take and a lot of confidence to take going into tonight’s game.

“We’ve looked at trying to be more confident in our forward play and I think we took great strides towards that on Sunday, so it will be about carrying that forward.

“I thought we were braver in possession and we weren’t afraid to commit numbers.

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“Sometimes, it’s about consolidating. Whilst we’re not afraid of anybody, you have to respect the quality that teams have, so we can’t just be throwing numbers forward, but we did look at it as an area we could be better at.

“It’s a bigger game than Sunday, really, for us.

“It’s not going to be easy for either team. We’re next to each other in the table and they either catch us up on points or we pull away from them for a bit.”

“We’re certainly not going into it thinking it’s a game we can take lightly.

“We’ve got to prepare for it exactly the same way we did for Sunday’s game because that standard’s the benchmark now – if we can push a Man City for 90 minutes, we need to be pushing the teams around us as well.”

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Everton warmed up for tonight’s encounter by emphatically booking their place in the SSE FA Cup semi-finals with a 6-1 win over Durham.

That’s not the only time they’ve hit the goal trail this term, having defeated Sunderland 5-1 in the reverse WSL 1 fixture in December.

Williams added: “They had a strong performance and result at the weekend, so they’re going to be coming into the game with confidence.

“They’ve got a lot of pace up top and they’ve got players that can get in behind, and as much as I don’t really want to look back to December’s game, we’ve got to be better prepared for the threats that they offer.

“I think we are – we’ve definitely improved as a team.”