Southampton 1-2 Arsenal
by Beth McCowen at St. Mary’s Stadium for Impetus (24/11/23).
Above: Molly Pike celebrates her goal that put Championship side Southampton ahead over Arsenal last night. Photo: Isabelle Field/Southampton.
Arsenal needed a goal from Amanda Ilestedt two minutes into stoppage time to seal their comeback from a 1-0 deficit to edge out Championship side Southampton in front of a record crowd for the Hampshire coast side, and one of the biggest attendances in the Conti Cup’s history.
Arsenal dominated in the beginning, but the Saints pressed hard and quickly opened up the game, spending a good portion of time both in possession of the ball and in their attacking half.
A free kick soon provided the Saints with a great opportunity, but Arsenal’s Sabrina D’Angelo made a huge save. It was a promising start for the home side.
After almost five minutes of constant action in Arsenal’s defensive half, Arsenal became more composed and saw their first shot at goal, which was sent just wide by Lina Hurtig.
Paige Peake was also a standout for Southampton, making two important clearances as Arsenal began to look closer to opening the score line. Rosie Parnell, captain of the Saints, forced another attempt by the Gunners back out, seemingly finding it easy to keep up with Arsenal’s Frida Maanum. Less than thirty minutes into the match, Steph Catley’s free-kick was successfully headed away by the Saints.
D’Angelo’s bold positioning soon proved effective as Southampton made another attempt to take the lead.
Kayla Rendell made several impressive saves for the hosts, and her distribution of the ball was largely excellent. D’Angelo equally continued to impress, playing a vital role in leading Eidevall’s side from the back throughout the opening half.
Soon after the break, Lexi Lloyd-Smith, a half-time substitution for the Saints, saw a huge opening. Messily, Arsenal managed to send this away. However, shortly afterwards, the hosts had better luck. Player of the Match Molly Pike, gave Southampton the lead in the 54th minute. Her clean, confident strike from the edge of the box left D’Angelo with no chance of stopping it. Arsenal’s backline were just not good enough here, and the Saints executed the opportunity brilliantly.
Rendell was put to the test just a few minutes later, saving one effort from the immense counterattack before Maanum’s equalising strike proved unstoppable.
Kathrine Kühl played a crucial role in Arsenal’s midfield, often working her way into attack and sending some lovely passes forward to her striker teammates (despite often finding herself in challenging, tight spaces). Southampton’s defence, though, were efficient in blocking many of these opportunities before they could result in another goal.
Spacey-Cale’s Championship side showed remarkable strength against one of the WSL’s finest, earning a further opportunity which was swiftly headed away by the Gunners’ Noelle Maritz.
Arsenal threatened the home side towards the end, but they often struggled to get past the strong and cohesive defence of the Saints.
However, with five minutes of added time, Arsenal took the lead for the first time this game. Ilestedt provided the game-winner through a header, following a confidently delivered corner.
It was, ultimately, D’Angelo who stopped Southampton from seizing back a point. Arsenal’s goalkeeper made more than one crucial save to stop the Saints from equalising.
There was a buzz about St. Mary’s Stadium. Spacey-Cale’s Southampton could certainly walk away with their heads held high, having delivered a stellar performance against a top WSL team, in front of a record crowd.
After the match, Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall described Marieanne Spacey-Cale’s team as a “well-coached side.”
Regarding the Gunners’ relatively slow start to the game, the manager admitted that in the first half, his side “connected really poorly off the ball.”
He also detailed that playing with three central defenders means that “one of the central defenders can start either driving the ball forward or making runs.” In light of this, the head coach was full of praise for Amanda Ilestedt, who scored Arsenal’s winning goal.
Touching on the competitiveness of the championship, where Southampton currently sit third, the Arsenal boss said, “When you see clubs like Southampton and how they are trying to grow, I think there is a real big case for saying that, from a quality perspective, the WSL probably can be a larger league than twelve teams.”
Southampton manager Marieanne Spacey-Cale declared to the press that she was “absolutely delighted with the players.”
Spacey-Cale explained that although the Saints just missed out on taking the game to penalties, her side’s strong performance was “a big statement”. There was also praise for the team’s “solid defensive display”.
On how her players felt post-match, Spacey-Cale said “I can’t believe they’re disappointed, in a really good way…they feel like they’ve gone toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in Europe, and we’re disappointed to have lost.” Clearly and justifiably pleased with her side’s performance, the head coach said that this response “says a lot about this group of players and the performance that they put in tonight.”
This match saw St. Mary’s with a record crowd of over 13,000, and Southampton’s head coach showed her appreciation for the fans who supported them through what they knew would be a tough encounter.
Teams: SOUTHAMPTON (4-2-3-1): Rendell, Mott, Parnell, Peake, Purfield, Kendall, Griffiths, Morris, Pike, Wilkinson, Dean. Substitutes: Howard, Rafferty, Lloyd-Smith, Peplow, Wynne, Pharoah, Thompson, Kraft, Primus.
Scorers: Pike (55’).
ARSENAL (4-3-3): D’Angelo, Beattie, Catley, Maanum, Wälti, Maritz, Hurtig, Kühl, Russo, Lacasse, Codina. Substitutes: Zinsberger, Ilestedt, McCabe, Cooney-Cross, Foord, Pelova, Mead, Miedema, Lia.
Scorers: Maanum (59’), Ilestedt (90+2’).
Referee: Stacey Pearson.
Attendance: 13,438.
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