We head to the midlands, this Sunday, as we face Birmingham City in the fourth to last match of the season. This season sure has flown by. The match will take place at St Andrews Stadium with kick off being 2pm. It would be great to see as many of you there as possible, supporting the girls as they begin to end out their season. Safe travels to all those who are making the journey!
For more information on St Andrews take a read of the information on the Stadium here...
A group of Saints Fans are also heading to Wilkos café called ‘Café No’ 8’ ahead of the match if anyone would like to join, it is based in Lichfield. 8 Tye Road, Lichfield, United Kingdom
Last time out
The last time we played Birmingham was back in October, on a very cold Monday evening, when we made the return to our beloved Snows Stadium. It definitely did feel good to be back there and right next to the action, it also bought in quite a good crowd! It was a tough end to end battle throughout the first half, with us growing into the game and Birmingham being the more dominant side. We nearly broke the deadlock too with a Wilko shot but she put it sailing wide. We took our time and eased into the game, not letting Birminghams heavy experience dictate the way that we played, we truly never gave up.
To take a quote from a supporter “Grit, determination, persistence and downright minded” and I feel that definitely described the game 100%.
The second half was where we really started to dig deep and came out with a lot more intensity, which I think may have taken Birmingham by surprise. Birminghams tactics were to play it over the defence and then to strike fast, but our defence coped well with those tactics with a very in form Kayla. Although, despite all their chances, Birmingham hardly got a shot on target to worry Kayla.
We deserved the result in this match based on the performance, and that’s exactly what happens! It was Lucia’s first match out after being out for the previous 5 games, she stepped on the pitch in the 68th minute. She showed her clinical control in the 84th minute, as the game was drawing to a close, she got on the end of a Wilko’s rolled pass across the edge of the box, before steering her right-footed strike effortless into the bottom left corner!
1 nil Saints and 3 points in the bag which extended our unbeaten league run to 4.
Looking ahead
We head into the match on Sunday with Saints sitting in 5th in the table. We are 15 points behind Bristol City who are sitting pretty on top and are 9 points behind London City Lionesses who are in 2nd. Charlton maintain their position of 3rd following their win over Lewes on Wednesday. We come off the back of our loss at home to Bristol last week but what a performance it was from us, we really deserved to win that one. Hopefully, we can complete the double over Birmingham. Let’s bring those 3 points home!
Birmingham currently sits in 4th in the table with 32 points. In 17 matches they have won 10, drawn 2 and lost 4, scoring 28 and conceding 18. A team who loves to score a goal but are also susceptible to letting them in too, which hopefully we can take advantage of. Birmingham’s home form sees them sit 5th in the table, they have gained 14 points in the 8 games played at home. They have won 4, drew 2 and also lost 2, whilst scoring 13 and conceding 11. So, by the looks of those stats, they’ve conceded the majority of their goals at home.
In there last outing they were away to Coventry United, they beat them 1-0 after Martha Harris broke the deadlock in the 23rd minute, leading to Birmingham holding and maintaining that lead for the remainder of the match. They had 71% possession and managed to get 10 shots on target with a total of 17 shots all together.
Birminghams top scorer is Jade Pennock, she has 9 goals this season for the Blues, 5 of which being scored at home. Second is Louise Quinn, she’s scored a total of 5 goals this season, 4 at home. The third in the list is fellow southerner, and Southampton born, Lucy Quinn, who has picked up 3 goals this season.
Read Birminghams Preview here...
Overall
It’s always exciting to see us play a team in whom we played early days in the season, as with us now having experienced the league and with only 4 matches to go, it allows us to scope just how far we’ve come and how well we’ve progressed and developed within the Championship. If the match against Bristol on the weekend is anything to go by, we’re in for an exciting match of football and hopefully a dominant display and momentum is carried over.
As said in the All Saints Podcastd for predictions, I predicted a 3-1 win and Chris predicted a 3-2 but he’s not sure who too. So, here’s to hoping for a good match, lots of goals (hopefully to us) and to pick up 3 points. COME ON YOU REDS!
Officials
Referee – Ade Soneye
Assistant referee – Levi Gray
Assistant referee – Charlotte Sparling Haythornthwaite
Fourth official – Luke Bowles
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