This Sunday, Saints take the 10 hour round trip up North, as they face Durham in their last game of the year. Kick-off is at an earlier time of 12pm, so a very early wake up call for us travelling fans! We hope to see as many of you there as possible to bring the noise and cheer on the girls, to what hopefully will be the final win of the year! If all the results go our way too, we could be top for Christmas! Fingers crossed!
Last time out
The last time we played Durham was actually only 2 months ago, we played at the Snows Stadium and ended the match 3 points heavier! We finished as 2-1 winners after Rianna Dean not only scored on her debut but scored a brace! We were strong, quick at closing them down in the first 20 minutes, but we seemed to back off a little after we scored the goal, which allowed the Durham team to play their game and become more dominant, this allowed Durham to get their goal in the 45th minute. Ive noticed from previous games that that
Durham are a team who rely on their long balls.
To be quite honest, we weren’t exactly playing our game in the first half, allowing Durham to play theirs, we may have scored both goals and turned it around, but the second half was a whole lot better, even if we didn’t score. We were closing them down a lot quicker, winning back possession and were looking to push forward with every attack. The determination, grit and perseverance these girls showed was also brilliant to see, long May it run; we truly have a team that are capable of reaching the top.
Looking ahead
We head into the match on Sunday with Saints sitting in 3rd place in the table with 21 points, Durham 7th in the table and just 7 points behind us. We come off that back of a 2-1 FA cup victory, over local rivals, Portsmouth last Sunday. Hopefully, the momentum of a cup and derby win, and the fact we have a chance of going top for Christmas, spurs the girls on to get that all important win Sunday.
Durham have had a very mixed season so far, what I mean by that is they’ve won 4, lost 5 and drew 2, so they are a very mixed bag when it comes to their form. Durham have picked up 3 out of the 4 wins at home too. They have also scored 11 goals but also conceded 20, which just goes to show they are very susceptible to letting one in, they’re just very good at home only conceding 4 of the 20 goals at Maiden Castle.
Sunday is most definitely going to be a tough test and a hard-fought challenge; we know how physical and strong that the Durham squad are as we’ve seen it before. We can really be prepared for a bustle between the teams. We just need to play our game because when we play our game; we’re slick, fast, skilful and hard to break down.
Durham finished 7th in the league last year picking up a total of 28 points overall. They conceded 30 and scored 29. Already this season, they’ve nearly conceded half the goals they did last season, that’s after 6 matches.
I’m looking forward to the match on Sunday, let’s bring the noise and support the mighty red and white! COME IN YOU REDS!
Match officials
Referee – Ruby Sykes
Assistant referee – Luke Bowles
Assistant referee – Leoni Harland
Fourth Official – Levi Gray
Observer – James Devine
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