Tom Mallinson envisages a tough test as his Nottingham Forest Women side visit Southampton.
Nottingham Forest Women head coach Tom Mallinson is expecting a tough test as the Reds prepare to travel to Southampton on Sunday.
Forest are one of five sides who remain unbeaten in the WSL2 after the first three gameweeks, and will be keen to keep that record alive on the south coast.
Excellent recovery after cup defeat
Despite an unbeaten league campaign so far, Forest did taste defeat in the Subway Players Cup, after falling to a 2-0 home loss against WSL side Aston Villa on Wednesday evening.
With a short turnaround between games, Mallinson spoke about the work put into maximising the Reds' recovery before Sunday's return to WSL2 action.
"Everyone's come back in really good condition," he said. "We did an extra little bit of recovery stuff for some of the players today [Friday].
"We also did it yesterday [Thursday], where we had a few extra parts of recovery, which is key. We try to look after them as best we can."
A tough test ahead
Like Forest, Southampton are also unbeaten in the WSL2 so far this season, and the Saints benefit from extra rest, having not featured in the Subway Players Cup this week.
Mallinson is under no illusions about the size of the challenge at hand for his side.
"We know that it's going to be an incredibly tough task when we go to Southampton," he insisted, "Who are a really tough side to play against.
"So we've got to prepare as best we can both off the pitch, but also on the pitch in the next couple of days."
"They're an incredibly hard-working team. We've obviously watched some of their games, and it'll be a really tough test for us, but they're the things we really want to go after.
"In those difficult games, the big players will turn up, and we've got plenty of those, so it's going to be a tough game down at St Mary's, but one we are extremely excited about and we really relish the challenge that we've got ahead of us."
Playing at St Mary's
The game will be played at Southampton's main stadium, St Mary's, an opportunity which Mallinson revealed his players are looking forward to.
But he compared it to other teams visiting the City Ground, and insisted that it will be just as much of a motivating factor for Southampton as it will be for the Reds.
"Some of the players like going to St Mary's, which is a nice thing for them to have - it's a great stadium," he admitted.
"It's like when teams come to the City Ground, people are always revved up the play at the City Ground, which is a fantastic destination to play football at.
"I think St Mary's will be the same thing, but that's equal for their players. They'll want to put a good representation of themselves at St Mary's in front of their own fans.
"So it's our job to prepare as best we can, go down there ready to fight for every second of the game, and hopefully we'll come away with a really strong performance and positive result."
