London City Lionesses avoid FA Cup shock as Sangaré header sinks Sunderland

Key Highlights

• They dominated most of the possession thereafter and the arrival of one of Sweden’s greatest players, Kosovare Asllani, from the bench only added to their control. It followed an away victory for another of the WSL’s London clubs, West Ham, away at Newcastle on Friday, with Rita Guarino’s side claiming a 3-0 win thanks to goals from Viviane Asseyi, Riko Ueki and Sarah Brasero-Carreira.
• So it was over to Sunderland to try their best. Here, in theory, the scene was set for a quintessential cup upset as the dark outline of an unwelcoming-looking row of deciduous trees flanked one side of the ground stood under a low cloud, with fans leaning on the side of railings as they held steaming cups of coffee and a Ha’way the Lasses’ flag hanging from a brick wall behind one goal and a queue for a cafe winding behind the other. Rhiannon Roberts shoots at goal during a rare Sunderland attack.
• olly Darlington/The FA/Getty ImagesSunderland, 5-1 winners at Derby in the third round in December, were hosting a side whose new head coach, Eder Maestre, was taking charge of his second game in English football after a goalless draw at Liverpool in his WSL managerial debut.
• The slight bobbles in the pitch awill have felt a world away from his previous job managing in Tenerife. Sunderland battled and set pieces offered them some glimmers, but Rhiannon Roberts’s blocked shot was perhaps as close as they came while at the other end their goalkeeper, Grace Moloney, did well to punch the ball clear when Isobel Goodwin looked set to head home.
• In the middle the class of Geyoro was obvious, making the pitch look like a carpet. To their credit the home side defended well to keep the scoreline at 1-0 but the visitors were rarely troubled as Maestre got his first win in charge. Explore more on these topicsWomen's FA CupSunderland WomenLondon City LionessesWomen's footballmatch reportsShareReuse this content.