For the first time in the WSL Charlton have familiar opposition this weekend. The squad travel to St Andrews to face Birmingham City on Sunday at 2pm.

Last season both teams secured away victories against each other and Karen Hills will be desperate to repeat that away win. Her team’s victory wasn’t a swashbuckling one. Katie Bradley scored after seven minutes and the team sat back from there. They saw just 26% of the ball and allowed a whopping 22 shots.

This season, Birmingham have also struggled for possession and to get results. With both teams finding it tough to step up to the level and consequently set up to defend Sunday’s match could be an attritional affair. Of course, the Blues have scored more than double the amount of goals the Addicks have managed. They are still without a win but have secured draws against Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Brighton and they are coming into the weekend following a 5-0 win away to Durham in the Players Cup.

Charlton had their own Players Cup victory on Wednesday, beating Bristol City with two second half goals after the visitors had been reduced to ten and Ellie Mason had missed a penalty. The win might not have been fully convincing but a heavily rotated squad getting a win will be a confidence booster. Karen Hills was delighted:

"I thought we played with a lot of bravery. Our passing was good, our quality and we did the basics really, really well. And I'm just so pleased for the players to have this winning feeling, because it is infectious and it's now about, can we carry that momentum on to this weekend coming?"

Against Manchester United it was clear that Charlton had identified a weak spot down their right hand side. Lucy Fitzgerald danced her way along that touchline before playing the ball to Jodie Hutton who in turn played a lovely cross for Leah Davidson to poke home. Hutton kept finding space and was unlucky not to get a couple of chances to score herself. Corners also provided some danger and Lobato will have been disappointed not to score a header in injury time.

Both sides will be going into this game with a little more confidence and a feeling that they’re starting to get used to the level. Both will also know how important fixtures against the promoted sides are. It’s set to be a tight game and one that Charlton cannot afford to lose, but we can hope that the momentum that Karen Hills mentioned can be maintained and that her team can bring back all three points.