Southampton boss Spacey-Cale proud of her side despite defeat | OneFootball

Southampton head coach Marieanne Spacey-Cale said that she was proud of her side despite their 1-0 defeat at Sunderland this afternoon.

The Saints were the better side in parts of the game, particularly in the first half, but they were unable to take any points back home with them.

The result dented Southampton’s promotion hopes but Spacey-Cale said that she was proud of the players for their performance at The Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground.

“It’s disappointing for us, frustrating,” Spacey-Cale told WSL Full-Time. “We had good chances in the first half and could’ve gone in ahead but Sunderland scored with the real clear chance that they had.

“I’m proud of the players for what they’ve tried to do in the second half. We weren’t playing as fluidly as we were in the first half but we absolutely battled for everything, so I’m proud of what they’ve done, what they tried to do. Sometimes, they had to show different sides of their game and I thought they did that really well.

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t take our chances, the players are hurting in there but we’ve still got lots to play for. We need to refocus, keep working hard and look forward to the next fixture.”

Southampton may now have to win all of their remaining games to secure the league title but Spacey-Cale says that the focus is to simply move onto the next game.

She said “We need to get over the disappointment of today, get back in next week, regroup and focus on what we can and can’t control. There’s nothing you can do about what you can’t control, so we just need to be strong and regroup.

“It’s a good squad and they’ll be together to make sure we work hard, put this disappointment to one side and move onto the next game.”

Southampton are next in action on Sunday 17 March when they play host to Reading at St Mary’s Stadium.