Shannon Stephen
Southampton FC 2-0 Blackburn Rovers
St Marys Stadium | Attendance: 1,645 | Goalscorers: Sophia Pharoah, Alex Brooks (OG)
Last Sunday, Saints were back at home, the fortress that is St Marys and yet again, we were not left disappointed with the performance on the pitch. An attendance of 1,645 made their way through the turnstiles, in the blistering heat, to all come together and cheer on our girls. I must say, the atmosphere within the ground was something, the chants echoing around the stands, the collective ‘go on’ when in on goal and ‘oooos’ and claps when something good happens, it was truly nice to hear and see.
The second game of the season always gets you thinking, will we perform as well as we did in the first game? Will there be changes? Will we see another Saints victory? Well, I can answer all three of those questions in one, YES! The performance on Sunday was nothing less than brilliant, we put on a confident and dominant display which was a very exciting watch. Admittedly, there was a few individual mistakes but that’s football, it happens and it’s how you recover from those mistakes what counts, and they recovered well.
I was very impressed with the vision the team had in the build-up to potential goals and throughout the whole game, working as a solid team opposed to individual attempts. I must say too, the crosses into the box were beautiful but some of the times I think were too early and couldn’t connect. The front three combination of Molly Pike, Sophia Pharoah and Katie Wilko looked a constant threat throughout, which gets me excited for the rest of the season! More goals? Yes please!
Again, just like at Lewes, we were playing fast paced football and having good passages of play, a lot of the time the Blackburn players just couldn’t keep up, I really don’t think they troubled us that much. Our defence? Impeccable! The pace we also have within this squad now is incredible, I can still see Molly Pike, Megan Collett and Ella Morris just accelerating past the Rovers players, amazing!
For the whole 10 minutes, they worked as a collective team, they always knew exactly where they needed to be and how each pass would be executed to them and how they would develop that play. Even with the subs, they come on and got stuck in straight away without taking time to warm in, they just knew exactly what they needed to do and went for it. The only thing I didn’t think we noticed was that we didn’t think Lucia and Raff had that connection that say Alice and whoever would have, if Alice was on the pitch.
Overall, this match was great, we received another 3 points and still WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!!
First half
The first half started and from the get-go you could see we meant business, admittedly some mistakes happened this half but none of which actual cost us a great deal, at all! Blackburn was the first to attack, but the small cross into the box wasn’t reached by the other Rovers player. Within the first five minutes we had already had 3 great chances, the first of which come from the wing, Ella Morris whipped a cross in but neither Wilko nor Sophia could latch onto it!
Megan Collett picked up a yellow card, which shouldn't have been mind, the Blackburn player pulled out the dramatics with a smile and then chose to laugh and clap at the ref when she dished out her yellow.
The second resulted in a save on the line from their keeper, Alex Brooks. Jemma Purfield put it into the box which Lucia couldn’t connect with, Wilko was there as Alex palmed it out and she tried to put it in, much to hers and our disappointment, Alex got hold of it and stopped it on the line. We’re back with Jemma Purfield on the left, she put a perfect ball in front of Molly to run into, Molly pulled it back to Wilko in the middle, but it was out wide.
Eagle eyed Jemma again spots an open Ella Morris and switched the play forward, Ella runs it forward and took a shot which sailed just over and past the goal. Molly was next with the shot, but it curled just left of the goal. The first half finished with both teams goaless.
Second half
Saints had the first chance of a goal in the second half after a Rovers player fouls us, the ref awarding us a free kick. Jemma Purfield was the one to step up, Wilko dummied the shot and then Jemma took the strike but it flew straight to Alex Brooke’s hands. Our next chance was a lovely team move that started from the back line, Milly passed it to Raff who then turned and put it to Wilko, she beautifully crossed the ball for Sophia to take a lovely touch to bring it down and smash it home!! GOALL! 2 goals in two games for our Sophia!
Our next chance comes from a cross from Ella which, in my opinion, was a really lovely cross but Wilko put it wide past the goalpost putting it out for a goal kick. The next chance was a Blackburn chance, unfortunately for them Rosie was able to get her head on their corner, but it went straight to a Rovers player who put it back in play, the rover's player tried a right shot but put it over the bar. Which it was offside anyway.
We definitely should have had a penalty in this half after two Blackburn players sandwiched Molly Pike when she was through on goal, the ref was having none of it though!
Sophia was back on the ball, she passed it back to Jemma who found Wilko, she one touched it to Lucia for her to put it through to Molly who ran onto it in the box. Molly passed it across the box for an on-running Lucia, but she put it over. Again, another really lovely team worked chance. Ella Morris was next with the chance after dispossessing a Blackburn player, took it through but her shot was blocked and put into the path of Molly, who took her shot but Blackburns number 6 made a brilliant goalie save putting it out for a corner.
The next shot was the second goal, Ella Morris who was in the middle of the park past it to Lucia, Lucia got into position and pulled the trigger, but the ball hit the post, rebounding back off and hitting Alex Brooke’s who scored our second goal! It was a good strike, we’ll let Lucia take that one!
Our last shot of the match was a long shot by Molly Pike which unfortunately went over.
Seems to be, the second half of the matches is when we really come to party!!
Player of the Match
Your voted ‘Player of the match’ for Sunday's match against Blackburn is none other than Megan Collett🤩
Megan today had an amazing game to say the least, no one was getting past her & even if they tried, her pace was unmatched to their players! She played a truly great performance today & kept the ball moving forward! She gave her all and was non-stop running! 🤩
Well played and Congratulations on ‘Player of the Match’ Megan❤️🤍
Lineups
Substitues
Comments