Sunderland Women fall to a narrow 1-0 away defeat to Southampton

Moments after Emily Scarr struck the post, Ella Pusey’s close-range finish on the hour secured all three points on the south coast and lifted the Saints up to third in the table.

Despite another encouraging performance, especially in the second half, the Black Cats couldn’t find the breakthrough to rescue the draw they probably deserved.

As expected, in-form Southampton started the brighter of the two sides, and tested Claudia Moan several times within the opening five minutes – the goalkeeper easily gathering Katie Wilkinson’s freekick and then Megan Collett’s snapshot from out wide.

The visitors’ back line was proving difficult to break down – Megan Beer with a standout block to close a clear sight of goal – and after weathering the storm they began to settle into the game.

Nikki Gears registered their first effort on target with a speculative strike from distance before Neve Herron’s teasing set piece to the far post was missed by everyone and eventually cleared for a corner which then caused Kayla Rendell some difficulty.

Southampton were always a threat, Morris flashing a low cross across the face of goal, but it was the away side who had the best chance of the first half: Emily Scarr collected the ball 30-yards out and aimed for the top corner, but Rendell stepped across her goal to acrobatically tip around the post at full stretch.

There was a frantic start to the second period – a lightning quick break ball over top put Scarr through on goal and although she beat Rendell, her precise shot bounced back off the upright and clear.

Almost immediately at the other end, Wilkinson’s header down from a corner was pounced on by Megan Wynne but she was stopped by a combination of Moan and Herron on the line.

Two minutes later, the hosts opened the scoring. After Sunderland failed to clear a corner, the ball was played from wide and flicked on by Katie Wilkinson to Pusey who made no mistake from less than two yards out.

Sunderland had Southampton pinned in their own half for much of the latter stages, Abby Holmes forcing another good save from Rendell, and even switching up the frontline with the introduction of Holly Manders and Katy Watson wasn’t enough to deliver an equaliser.

Mel Reay’s side are back on the road this Sunday when they head to Lancashire to face Blackburn Rovers where they will hope for a much-needed win to close the gap on those teams above them.

Sunderland: Moan; Beer (Holmes 46’), Westrup, McCatty, Griffiths; Danielle Brown, Herron, Kelly (c) (Watson 71’); Gears (Manders 71’), Scarr, Dodds (Jessica Brown 71’).

Subs: Cowling, Ede, McInnes.