Karen Hills: "I’m excited, the girls are excited. It’s always good to play in a local derby"

Charlton Athletic Women Manager Karen Hills spoke to the club ahead of this afternoon’s local derby against Crystal Palace (2pm).

“I’m excited, the girls are excited. It’s always good to play in a local derby, there’s a little bit more at stake as well. We’re looking forward to it.

“We always say you’ve got to try and take the emotion out, I think with more games under the players’ belts, they have. There will always be that added spice around local derbies and Crystal Palace is no exception.

“They’ve got a great fan base, I’m sure they’ll be very vocal and loud and I hope we are able to attract some of our Charlton supporters, it will make it a really nice and exciting atmosphere.

“It’s going to be a tough game, we know that. Crystal Palace is always a tough opposition to play and they’ve got some fantastic players that are gelling really nicely. They play some really nice football, they’re going to be causing us some problems but at the same time we know that we’ve got opportunities to cause them problems. It’s going to be tight and tough but we’re ready and we’re geared to go into the game as best we can.

“I think Crystal Palace have got one of the strongest teams that they’ve produced and had over many years. But saying that, so are we. I think it’s going to be an exciting game and who knows what can happen.

“We just want to encourage all our local Charlton fans to come down and support the girls and know that they’re going to give absolutely everything and hopefully put in a performance that hopefully we can all be proud of.”

Read Time: 2 mins