Jay Sadler describes ‘Worst day’ in management as Portsmouth Women humiliated v Southampton
Jay Sadler has called Portsmouth Women’s 5-0 derby defeat by Southampton on Sunday 13 October, the “worst day” of his management career.
The head coach witnessed his side remain in the game until near its conclusion, before shipping three goals from the 88th minute onwards to serve up a humiliation by their bitter rivals at Fratton Park.
Newly-promoted Pompey are rooted to the bottom of the Women’s Championship without a point from six games, having conceded 22 goals and scored just once.
Speaking to BBC Radio Solent [13 October], Sadler bemoaned the derby contest: “It was an embarrassing result – probably the worst day of my management career if I’m being honest.
“We’re playing at Fratton Park against our local rivals and I’ve never had to apologise to the fans before, but that wasn’t good enough from us – from myself through to the players.
“I thought the first half was quite good, we created a few moments on the transition. But three goals in three minutes in the second half – there were no leaders on the pitch and we were unable to stop them no matter what we tried.”
Alarm bells ringing for Portsmouth Women after derby destruction
Much to the joy of the travelling Southampton fans who made the short trip to the island city, it was a demolition derby job from their side.
It’s difficult for Portsmouth to even know where to turn at the moment, and they are coming unstuck rapidly at Championship level.
The league awaits no one as the Blues have spent the past few months acclimatising to a professional environment, and results have to come from somewhere soon – to do what they did on Sunday is humiliating and nowhere near good enough.
Sadler is articulate and a character unafraid to front the responsibility as head coach, but the concern is that he appears bewildered as to how to stop the rot – and like he says, Bristol City are next: a team who by their standards have been sluggish, fired in a last-minute winner in their latest outing and will be out for blood.
To be destroyed by your local rivals is a short-term horror show; the emergency item on the agenda is to get points on the board before the season becomes irretrievable.
In other Portsmouth news, Andy Cullen discusses contracts for two key club figures.
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