Winchester Ladies 1’s pursue 4th place with a critical win v Southampton

Following Winchester’s narrow 1-2 defeat against Southampton on their first meeting this season, the team were back in action down at Southampton Sports Centre on Saturday for the return leg.

This time round we were treated to a much-improved performance from the Winchester team. Throughout the majority of the game, play was evenly balanced between the two teams with a small amount of clear scoring opportunities from both sides.

Winchester were gunning to take the points after suffering some unusual results over the past couple of weeks, but during the first half of this Saturday’s game, Southampton seemed to have a higher percentage of possession. Their forward line attacked at pace and forced some excellent saves from goalkeeper, Shelley Mott.

Initially the team seemed unsettled whilst they were forced to absorb the pressure from Southampton. However, it didn’t take long for the defensive unit, including Kitty Brockbank and Mimi Chainey, to become familiar with the positioning and tactics from the opposition, which were recognisable from the first meeting back in October.

Towards the end of the first half the Winchester side stepped up the quality of play, utilising each other’s ability and strength. In particular the smooth, linked up passing on the left-hand side between Alice Micklethwaite and Liv Child’s, set the standards and the rank tightened.

Winchester attacked hard and fast on the break and had a number of good passages of play, from Ellis Williams, Ella Chainey, Emily Lott and Izzy Thomas. Unfortunately, nothing was to come of those opportunities in the first half.

The second 35 minutes started fairly similarly, but about 10 minutes in something else seemed to click and the Winchester side began to look even more threatening. Southampton were still game and won a succession of short corners, but these were kept out by a strong defensive routine. A very patient Winchester were finally awarded a couple of short corners, following class individual skills from Laura Pitfield and Sarah Johns. Finally, Winchester got their break and Holly Cameron converted one of their short corners with a sneaky near post goal from an incredibly tight angle.

1-0 up and the team continued to move the ball well against a tiring opposition. Whilst Southampton kept on the pressure at pace, the frustration started to creep in when the long balls in from defence didn’t reach the forwards in blue.

Although both teams saw players sent to the bench during the match, Winchester managed to capitalise on their opportunity of having an extra player on the pitch towards the end of the game. With 5 minutes left to go, the Winchester players knew what they needed to do, following the late winner from Southampton in the previous match. With an endless stream of clean, accurate passing, with the whole team involved, this time Southampton were unable to touch the ball for one final opportunity before the final whistle.

Final score: Winchester won 1-0

Player of the Match: Shelley Mott (GK)