Adam Mitten

It was a busy few opening minutes at Princes Park when Blackburn Rovers defender Millie Chanandra clumsily bundled Grace Neville down in the box, awarding the hosts an early penalty just three minutes in.

Dan Carter stepped up to the spot and launched a hard strike to the left but a strong arm from Alex Brooks meant any chance of a rebound goal was quickly quashed.

The early pressure from the Pride was quickly dissipated by some quick one touch football by the Rovers. A particular feature of this was Lucy Shepherd’s ‘flick-on’s’ that played Blackburn in off the shoulder a number of times.

Whilst Blackburn were playing some tidy football, their decision making in the final product was somewhat letting them down. Lauren Thomas and Shepherd were working particularly hard to make use of natural transitions but incorrect passing options and slowed movement in the box stopped opportunities in their tracks.

Down the other end chances were not so frequent however London City have a weapon in their ranks in the form of former Women’s Super League giant Carter. The striker found herself in a good position on goal with little in her way, she slid the ball through but her effort was once again palmed out by Brooks.

Five minutes before the half time whistle, Blackburn opened the scoring through Shepherd who had been causing London City centre backs Megan Campbell and Georgia Brougham some trouble. The Rovers forward struck a low shot from the left that bobbled past a diving Grace Moloney.

The second half saw almost an exact reversed replica of the first. This time it was Blackburn who earned the penalty two minutes after the restart. Katie Bradley managed to send Moloney the wrong way but also sent her shot slamming into the advertising boards behind.

Certainly, a shift in intensity was felt as the second half progressed. Blackburn used a hefty amount of game management to frustrate the hosts…and it worked. With no further clear-cut chances to carve out, the visitors used everything in their arsenal to deny London City an equaliser. Tight marking, holding possession, swaddling saves, corner and touchline hogging, you name it, the Rovers made good use of it

The Pride did manage to find the back of the net in the ten minutes of additional time through Lucy Fitzegerald before it was very quickly called offside by the linesperson. As tight a game as it was, and with enough chances to have converted one or two, it felt as though things were just not going to go London City’s way.

Line-ups

London City Lionesses: Maloney, Neville, Mukandi, Brougham, Campbell (67’), Joel (C), Douglas (82’), Carter, Wilde (67’), Littlejohn, Boye-Hlorkah

Substitutes: Cull, Scofield, Groves, Alexander (82’) , Fitzgerald (67’), Culver, Henson, Cowan (67’), Farrelly

Yellows: Brougham

Blackburn Rovers: Brooks, Murphy (82’), Coan (C), Williams (65’), Hornby, Shepherd (65’), Silcock (90+5’), Chandarana (65’), Bradley, Thomas, Robertson

Substitutes: Salgado, Seed (90+5’), Hutchings (82’), Richards (65’), Doyle (65’), Dahou, Maxwell, Walters (65’)

Yellows: Silcock, Seed

Goal: Shepherd (40’)