Rehanne analyses south coast success

It was a cold, wet afternoon at St. Mary’s Stadium as we faced Southampton in our final game of the Continental League Cup group stages, but Rehanne Skinner’s side provided an early Christmas present with a smart 1-0 win away from home.

Coming off the back of a difficult run of three defeats in the Women’s Super League since our last outing in the Cup, victory over Southampton was important to end the calendar year on a high.

“We dominated the game from start to finish and obviously took a good chance when we got the opportunity,” Rehanne said. “I thought, prior to that, we had lots of opportunities from set plays and they defended really well in and around the box and just made life difficult for us in those moments. As the game’s gone on, we’ve been comfortable and happy to get the win and to obviously go into the quarter-finals of the Conti Cup.”

Nikola Karczewska gave us the lead in the 26th minute when she demonstrated good positioning to get on the end of an accurate cross into the box from Rosella Ayane.

“We had a few just prior to that point where Ev [Summanen] had had an opportunity and Niki had had one as well, so I think it was one of those that we spotted to exploit in central areas from a cross and it was a great finish.”

Academy graduate Lenna Gunning-Williams came on for her second substitute appearance in a Spurs shirt, while Kayleigh Stead made her debut for us to become our third academy debutant of the season.

“Lenna’s had an immediate impact. She had a couple of shots on target very quickly, so it’s testament to how she wants to go about the game. She’s a positive character on the pitch. 

“It’s great for Kayleigh, who has trained with us on a number of occasions, and it felt like the right opportunity for her to go to get some minutes today, which is great.”

Rehanne made six changes to the starting line-up from Wednesday’s match against Everton, with Tinja-Riika Korpela, Kerys Harrop, Celin Bizet, Angharad James, Chioma Ubogagu and Gracie Pearse all coming back into the side.

“The squad, when everybody’s fit, is a really good squad. We’ve been managing a lot of people over the course of this first half of the season at different times for different reasons. 

“It was good to get Tinni back into her game today finally. Now it’s a little bit of rest and recovery over Christmas. It’s a great time for a break for us and we want to come back and start really positively in January with everyone fit.”

There were also a few positional changes on Sunday. Amy Turner, who has played most of this season at right-back, shifted over to her favoured position, while Bizet occupied a more central role in the attack and Ubogagu and Ayane could be seen swapping wings throughout the first half.

“Amy’s a centre-back and has done a great job for us as a right-back as well. It just shows what she’s about in terms of her defensive, solid performances. I thought she did really well and Molly [Bartrip] was excellent today. I thought they complemented each other quite well and it just helps us to continue to make sure that we’ve got options within the squad and the depth that we want moving forward.”

It’s now just under a month until our next game, which is away to Aston Villa in the WSL on Saturday, 14 January.

“It’s been a really busy week and it’s a great result today. Some of the league results of late weren’t exactly what we wanted, but we’ve come out and put in a good performance and that’s what you want to end with, so it’s a much needed break mentally and physically for everybody and then you can go again in the second half of the season.”