Southampton Women miss chance to match men's 100% St Mary's record

St Mary's is known as one of the toughest fortresses to travel to in the entire Championship.

Indeed, Tonda Eckert hasn't tasted a single league defeat on Southampton's home patch since January, with Hull City the last time to beat the South Coast giants in their own backyard, on the way to promotion to the Premier League being sealed.

Since then, the wins have regularly flowed, and heading into the international break, the promotion chasers are four wins from four in Championship action this season on home soil, scoring a mighty 15 goals along the way.

The Southampton Women's team played at St. Mary's on Sunday afternoon, attempting to pick up their second Womens Super League 2 victory of the campaign, but they unfortunately stumbled in their pursuit.

Southampton Women made to settle for draw

Simon Parker's side often play their home matches at Eastleigh's Silverlake Stadium, but for the WSL 2 encounter with Nottingham Forest, St Mary's was the setting.

One of the three fixtures this season in league action that will fall at Southampton's main fortress was the showdown with Forest, so there was a lot of excitement in the air ahead of kick-off.

Unfortunately, a win wouldn't be forthcoming to keep the men's flawless 100% record going, as Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah equalised for Forest within the final ten minutes of normal time, but it was still a great occasion nonetheless for the 1-1 draw.

Indeed, Freya Jupp would score her first ever Saints goal for Parker's team when powering home an effort on the 63rd minute mark, with the 22-year-old no doubt over the moon to break her duck.

On another day, her goal might well have been the matchwinning strike, but Forest had other ideas, as the spoils were shared between the two WSL 2 outfits.

While the 100% record the men boast at St Mary's hasn't been kept up by the women's team, the Saints haven't actually lost a single game in league action so far this season, when delving deeper into the WSL 2 table.

They're still unbeaten overall

Indeed, from their opening four games, one win and three draws have been collected, which is steady, if slightly unspectacular form.

A 3-1 win would start the campaign off on the best possible footing, as Durham were convincingly put to the sword.

But, since then, it's been three straight draws, including two successive 0-0 draws, with the women crying out for an attacker of Cyle Larin's quality to bury chances.

It could be a lot worse, however, as they currently occupy a promising fourth spot in a congested 12-team league.

The aim, come the end of the campaign, will be to improve on last season's fifth place finish, with a win hopefully falling into their back pocket the next time they're handed St. Mary's as their home venue.

Both the main Saints teams have started the season in encouraging form, so it will be intriguing to see who finishes higher, with Eckert and Co. obviously hamstrung by their four point deduction, back in Championship action.

The next WSL 2 game on the agenda for Parker's side is Bristol City away on the 4th of October, with plenty of eyes on the action in Bristol, as the men's team remain on their long drawn out international break.

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