Reay discusses form and development of Cats ahead of Charlton test

Never too high in victory, it's no surprise that Mel Reay is neither too low in defeat.

Sunderland may have suffered back-to-back league losses before the internationalbreak,butabonus-pointwin overSheffieldintheContinental Cup allowed them to enter the lay-off on a high.

The bigger picture this seasonissurvivalandprogression, worthrememberinggiventhat the margins against strong

Bristol City and Durham sides were fine.

Allthesame,awinwouldbe morethanwelcomeagainstanothertoughopponentinCharlton Athletic on Sunday.

"That's what we're striving towards," Reay said.

"We do feel like we're getting there. The results have beenclose,onegoalinitforthe most part. The overall picture istwowins,twodrawsandtwo losses in the league and that's good form.

"But we certainly want to get three points on the board quicklyjusttogiveusthatcushion going into a block of league games."

Reflectingonrecentgames, Reay said: "So for that Durham game we wanted that experience in the midfield because we knew just how strong they were there, and we wanted to flood it with as much experience as we could.

"We felt it worked in the first half but we did taper off in the second half.

"We'restilllearninginevery gameweplayandwe'restilldeveloping relationships.

"Everytimeweplayisslightly different and we have to do ourpreparationproperlytoget the right side out.

"It'simportantwehavethat versatility.

"If you look at [Neve Herron], it's giving her opportunities.Iknowthere'sthatthought of 'Jack of all trades, master of none' but she has given herself great opportunities to always be on the pitch.

"It's like that for a lot of the players, especially in the attacking area.

"Abbey Joice, Emma Kelly can play at right-back, Keira [Ramshaw] for example can play as the nine, the seven, in centralmidfield,andthatgives me options.

"It's a good problem for me to have."

On Charlton, Reay said: "They'vegoneprofessionalthis year which helps, but doesn't automatically mean they'll be better than us.

"They've got good players who'll hurt you if you don't defend properly, they're aggressive and look to go forward quite quickly. We'll come up with a plan and the girls are fully prepared."