Bill Long hopes the Charlton women’s team can reproduce the form they showed in their 1-0 Premier League Cup win over Watford in January when they travel back to Berkhamsted this Sunday.

After more than a month-long Christmas break, the Addicks defeated the Hornets in the League Cup quarter final thanks to a 119^th minute, 40-yard Gemma Shepherd strike.

This weekend they face the same opponents in the Premier League National Division with Watford sitting in second place, so caretaker manager Long knows it will be a tough clash.

He said: “It will be very tough. Watford are a good side and in a way it’s one of our local derbies so it’s one of those times where we have to roll our sleeves up, dig in and be at the top of our game.

“We’ve got to do exactly the same [as in the cup]. We’ve got to battle from the first whistle to the last, put every ounce of effort into the game and hopefully we’ll get the same result.”

Long was also pleased with the return from injury of Charlton’s current Player of the Year, right-back Sinead Boyer, after their last two away games yielded just one point (0-2 v Leeds and 0-0 v Portsmouth).

“It’s good to have Shinny back and we may have to utilise her in different ways, with her power and her pace and her experience so that is a positive as well,” he added.

After the Watford game, the Charlton women’s team will be counting down the days until we face Arsenal reserves in the London FA Women’s Senior Cup final on Thursday 28 March at Redbridge FC (1930).

Photos supplied by T. Siegfried Ip.