This Sunday we welcome Blackburn Rovers to St Marys Stadium for the return fixture. The match will take place on Sunday 12th March, kick off is 2pm. You can still buy your tickets online with the 3-match bundle still available, offering you the chance to see not 1, not 2 but 3 matches for the price of two tickets! That gives you the chance to see the girls play Blackburn, Durham and Bristol City in 3 consecutive home games. Get to the ground on Sunday and show your support, bring the noise and march on in the mighty red and white.
You can buy your tickets on the ticketing website, over the phone or at the box office.
Last time out
The last time we played Blackburn was in November, it was a brilliant match bar the freezing cold and rainy conditions. The game ended in a draw with a dominant display put on by the girls. Although, last time Blackburn proved pretty hard to breakdown but when we managed
to, we were on it and ready to break. No balls made their way into the back of the net in the first half, but it was a good positive display for the girls. Leeta, Beth and Ella Morris all having a brilliant game, with Leets being an absolute rock in midfield.
The whistle blew for half time and the teams went in ready for their pep talk to gear them up for the second half, and just like the first, it was another great half but this time there were goals. Blackburn came out with a lot more fight in the second half, but I believe this is what spurred us on and pushed us to be even better at our game. Wilko was the one to open the scoring in the 57th minute, Beth cut back to Wilko who was in the middle, she shot into the top of the net. Constantly pushing to get that second goal but it just wouldn’t come. Ella Morris making some great crosses, as she always does throughout the whole match.
Unfortunately, we didn’t hold out the whole 90 minutes before conceding as in the 85th minute, Blackburn drew level from drawing a foul, getting a free-kick and Saffron Jordan, being her best poaching self, sending the ball home. Saints needed to learn to be a lot savvier in these moments and not let Blackburn dictate the game. Blackburn tried hard to turn the advantage their way, by any means. It was a disappointing goal to have conceded, also with the way they were trying to buy fouls so close to our box to try and get a free kick and push for a second. We just shouldn’t have been in that situation. The match ended and we left with a point on the road.
Looking ahead
We head into the match on Sunday with Saints sitting in 3rd place in the table, 10 points behind Bristol City who are 1st and 4 points behind London City Lionesses who sit in 2nd. We come of the back off an away loss to Charlton in which we lost 1 nil, where we conceded a sloppy single goal, and we’re left chasing the game from them on. That’s not Saints, or at least not the Saints we have seen playing in this league since the start of the season. Hopefully, the loss is what spurs us on and gets a fire in our bellies to go for it on Sunday, get a good few goals and collect the 3 points.
Blackburn are in their own way a strong team, but then I guess can also be described as hit and miss, they’ve played the likes of us, Bristol City and London City Lionesses and managed to keep all three of us at a draw. Then they’ve recently lost 3-1 to Coventry United, but as they say, football is an extremely unpredictable game. They currently sit 10th in the table with 14 points, just 8 points away from Coventry who sit bottom. They have played 14 matches this season, winning 3, drawing 5 and losing 6, scoring 14 goals and conceding 21. Their away form isn’t great as they haven’t won a match away from home, drawing 3 and losing 4, they’ve also conceded 13 goals.
Blackburn’s top scorer for this season is, Saffron Jordan, she’s scored a total of 7 goals, with her poaching instincts in front of goal, making up half the goals scored in total. Next top finisher is Farah Crompton with 3 goals and then for Ellie Leek with 1 goal. Saffron Jordan is the player that I feel we need to watch out for on Sunday.
Last time out saw Blackburn lose Birmingham City away, falling to a 2-1 defeat after leading the game 1 nil, thanks to a goal from Crompton, the game seemingly turned on its head in the 78th minute when Birmingham scored 2 in the space of 8 minutes. The match before
that they played Coventry United where they lost again but this time 3-1, Cov getting all 3 goals within the first 20 minutes.
Overall
After a disappointing performance at Charlton last week, they need to put it right, and I think we’re going to see the team we’ve seen throughout this season this weekend. Blackburn are proven to be very vulnerable away and if we take advantage of that and don’t allow them to play their game and giving them little time on the ball, we can take control.
When we play our game, we dictate the play, the tempo and the match as a whole, we are first to the ball, we can play quick, slick attractive football. That’s what I want to see a return of in the first 3 games at home and until the end of the season. We know they can do it, the team now need to show it and BELIEVE it themselves.
As far as predicting goes, I’m going to go with a 3-0 win. Going for a big score line! 8 matches to go and all to play for. Hope to see you all on Sunday! UP THE SAINTS!
Match officials
Referee – Laura Van Lier.
Assistant Referee – Gareth Dunn.
Assistant Referee – Rhiannon Stevens.
Fourth Official – Benjamin Duffill
Commentaires