View: Sadler’s patience finally pays off for Portsmouth Women
Jay Sadler saw his patience pay off as Portsmouth Women picked up just a second point of the Women’s Championship campaign.
Pompey earned a 2-2 draw in Sunday’s (15 December) contest at Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground thanks to goals from Sophie Quirk and Lily Dent.
Sadler made just one change to the side beaten by London City Lionesses as Erin McLaughlin came into the side in place of Ava Rowbotham.
It would have been easy for Sadler to make mass changes on the back of the disappointing loss to the Lionesses last time out.
Instead, the Pompey Women manager stuck largely with the same line-up and that paid off in what was a good result.
Portsmouth Women claim point against Sunderland Women
Portsmouth let a one-goal lead slip to go into the interval behind, but Dent struck in the second half to double her side’s points tally for the campaign.
It goes without saying that two points from a possible 30 is not a great return, with some really damaging defeats along the way, but this was always going to be a tricky campaign in the second tier.
The hope now is that the draw against Sunderland can act as a turning point of sorts for Sadler’s side.
Any hopes of momentum, though, are restricted by the fact that league action is now halted until the New Year.
Nonetheless, Pompey Women can hold their heads up high as the end of a historic year for the side draws to a close.
And supporters simply need to retain hope of a great escape when action resumes again in a few weeks’ time.
In other Portsmouth news, a youth player may have done enough to catch the eye of senior manager John Mousinho.
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