Fifth-placed Southampton welcomed 10th-placed Durham to Eastleigh’s Silverlake stadium with 3 points between the two sides.
Charlton have had a good start to the season, and sit top of the table, winning 6 of their 8 games, losing none, but it was Saints who had the better of a lot of the first half, with Megan Collett having the first real shot of the game, a long-range strike that dipped just behind the crossbar. Chloe Peplow also tried a long-range shot, which missed the target. Then, ten minutes before half-time, against the run of play, Charlton scored with a lofted attempt from long range, seeing Saints go into the break 1-0 down.
Third-placed Saints (not often you can write that) welcomed Nottingham Forest to Saint Mary’s for a WSL2 match. Former Saints midfielder Rachel Rowe was on the bench for Forest, as was last season’s loan player Vivianne Lia. As this was the Remembrance match for the women, we had the Last Post and a minute’s silence before the match. The silence was almost impeccably observed, just a couple of seats banged and one small kid crying and wailing, “I want to leave, I want to leave…”. I’m not sure if the kid thought that this was another outing for the men’s team, or if it was an omen for the match ahead, possibly driven by an in-depth knowledge of Nottingham Forest’s tactical approach.
Four days after a 1-0 League Cup win for Saints at Eastleigh’s Silverlake Stadium, they face Portsmouth again, this time at Fratton Park in the league. In this fixture last season, Saints put 5 past Portsmouth.
Saints made changes, and, due to the good form of Issy Watts, fit-again Megan Collett was pushed forward, with Elle Brazil dropping to the bench.
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