Southampton manager Marianne Spacey-Cale says that the club’s run in this season’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup has given them an idea of where they are in their quest for FA Women’s Championship football.
The Saints are keen to win promotion to the second tier but they are also juggling Vitality Women’s FA Cup commitments after seeing-off Bristol City in the fourth round to reach the last-16 for the second consecutive year.
Southampton’s reward is a fifth round tie at fellow FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division side Ipswich Town this afternoon. When speaking exclusively to FAWSL Full-Time, Spacey-Cale said that her side’s cup run has shown that the team are capable of competing against teams in the second tier.
“Ourselves and Ipswich can certainly compete at that level, we proved that in the last game against Bristol City,” Spacey-Cale said. “We were organised, we were physically in good condition and we weren’t overrun in terms of physicality. We had our moments and we took those moments.
“The FA Cup is certainly an opportunity for us to showcase what we are doing and how we feel that we can compete at a higher level on a regular basis, week in, week out.”
Highlighting Southampton’s desire to play FA Women’s Championship football further, Spacey-Cale went on to say that her club’s ethos is to always aspire to reach the next level. To thrive as a second tier club, she knows that her side must aim to perform consistently.
She said “We’ve always had this outlook that we want to be playing a level higher than we are, we want to train at a level that is very intense for us and that gets us into the best place possible to compete.
“Bristol City was a one-off game but we want to be in a position where we are performing consistently, week in, week out. For that to happen, we have to make sure that our training intensity at this moment is at a level that we can then be consistent if we are fortunate enough to get into the Championship. We have to look at that as a consistent run because it’s great doing it in one-off games but to be able to do it in the Championship, week in, week out, that’s our aim and that’s what we are striving for.”
Southampton were the first winners of the Women’s FA Cup back in 197o/1971. The city is a famous name in the women’s game with the likes of Red Star Southampton and Southampton Saints having also enjoyed success in the past. Spacey-Cale acknowledged the history within the city whilst adding that there is a wealth of talent in the local area.
“You look at the history and Southampton has been a bedrock of talent in the women’s game,” Spacey-Cale said. “For many years, players from Southampton were the bulk of the England squad, back in the 70s-80s. You cannot underestimate the history within this region.
“The level of football now, there’s talent on the South Coast and we are delighted to be part of that continued growth of creating history. You should never forget what has happened before but you also want to create opportunities for the next generation. We are really proud to be doing that and with the EUROs and the game at St Mary’s coming up, it is an exciting time to be part of South Coast football.”
With the heavy investment in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League and some clubs juggling European goals, it is not uncommon to see some of the bigger clubs rest players or rotate their squads in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup’s fifth round. Despite some teams maybe not lining-up in their usual way this weekend, Spacey-Cale believes that every club has a burning desire to get to Wembley.
She said “It has always been the magic that anybody can beat anybody on their day. If you do not perform for the full game or if you are not at it, there is the opportunity for slip-ups.
“The top teams will be looking at WSL and Champions League, Championship clubs will be looking at promotion to the WSL but also, I don’t think that you can hide the fact that everybody wants to play at Wembley in an FA Cup final. For the FA Cup weekends, yes, there is a romantic distraction but the desire is there to get to Wembley with lots of fans in there.
“For us, it is probably too soon to be even thinking about Wembley and an FA Cup final but it is about progression and looking at where we were, where we are and where we want to be which is key for us.”
Southampton’s Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round tie at Ipswich Town kicks-off at 2pm.