Southampton boss Parker delighted with impact of young players in victory over Portsmouth | OneFootball

Southampton head coach Simon Parker was delighted with how his young side performed as they defeated Portsmouth 1-0 in the Subway Women’s League Cup last night.

Michaela McAlonie’s first half goal secured the derby day spoils for The Saints at Silverlake Stadium.

Southampton boss Parker opted to field several of the club’s young players in the game. When speaking to the media after the match, Parker gave a positive assessment of how his side performed on an evening which saw youngsters Issy Watts, Ella Pettit and Natasha Udebhulu all receive their first starts at senior level.

“I think it’s largely positive,” Parker said. “We made quite a few changes, so there’s a good opportunity to see players who maybe haven’t had as many minutes, who have been working really hard. Then for those [Under] 21s as well, for them to be in a competitive game with us, to be able to show what they can do because sometimes, it is hard to put them in the league games or when we haven’t seen enough of them in that competitive environment. To see them today was fantastic, so we can know that they’re ready when they need to be called upon.”

Commenting on the performance of his much-changed side further, Parker highlighted the versatility as a real plus, again making some reference to the impact of the young players.

He said “The [Under] 21s that are coming in are showing that versatility, so it’s going to be huge. When you have a smaller squad or when there are quite a few players injured, you need players who can kind of fill in multiple positions, so it’s very important.”

Parker’s side travel to Fratton Park to face Portsmouth in a second South Coast derby this weekend. Looking ahead to the Barclays WSL2 clash, Parker commented on how the midweek win builds momentum and confidence ahead of the second instalment.

He said “Every time you win, it kind of breeds momentum and confidence, so there’s a lot that we can take from this. We also understand that it can be a completely different game on Sunday, especially being at Fratton Park, they’re going to have their fans there. It’s going to be a really big occasion for them and we know the kind of position they’re in in the league. They’re going to be fighting for everything.

“This is good in terms of preparation, it is the same team, but a completely different day on Sunday. We’ve got to just make sure we take the learnings from today. We have to be more clinical because even though I felt we dominated large periods and we should have scored more, we didn’t. We’ve just got to make sure we tidy up in a few areas.”

Southampton’s Barclays WSL2 fixture at Portsmouth kicks-off at 2pm on Sunday afternoon.