Women's Preview: Keynsham vs Saints

Keynsham Town vs Saints

National League Southern Premier

AJN Stadium

Thursday 14th April, 7.45pm BST

Saints continued their fine form in National League Southern Premier on Sunday with a professional performance against Hounslow.

Skipper Shannon Sievwright opened the scoring on 36 minutes with a close-range header, before Ella Pusey netted a four-minute brace during the second half.

Further goals followed from Ciara Watling just past the hour mark and Sophia Pharoah, as Marieanne Spacey-Cale’s side leapfrogged Ipswich into top spot.

Keynsham haven’t been in action since the start of April, after last week’s meeting at Gillingham was postponed.

Their last outing was a tricky away fixture at Oxford United, where the hosts came away with a 9-0 victory.

Three points for Saints on Thursday would see them open up a four-point gap on Ipswich with one remaining game in hand.

The two sides last met in early October at Snows Stadium, where Spacey-Cale’s side enjoyed a dominant afternoon in front of nearly 300 fans.

Laura Rafferty opened the scoring inside three minutes, before Phoebe Williams added a second just shy of the half hour mark.

It took until the 63rd minute for Saints to add a third, as Rafferty claimed her second of the afternoon, before Milly Mott made it four on 68 minutes.

There was still time for Ella Pusey to grab a hat-trick in the 20-minute remaining, alongside solo strikes for Lucia Kendall and Pharoah.

“The coach travel is certainly good for team building,” admitted Spacey-Cale ahead of another away trip. “But it’ll be another tough game.

“Keynsham are a different proposition at home to when they are away, so we’ll have to get ready for the game as well as we can.

“We’ll train well Tuesday and Wednesday and prepare as well as we can Thursday. We got players on the pitch Sunday and they are all shouting to be on the pitch again.

“So training will be competitive this week. It’s a good headache to have as a manager.”