Portsmouth Women show massive improvement in what happened v Southampton

Portsmouth Women are now three unbeaten in the Women's Championship with two wins and a draw - and the latter is the best of the lot.

Pompey remain third-bottom of the table with their fellow survival battlers still to play as of Sunday morning (23 March), with a hard-earned goalless derby draw at St Mary's against Southampton (22 March).

Seven points from the last three games have now contributed to a season total of nine, and Jay Sadler's girls have three fixtures remaining to avoid the sole relegation spot back to the National League after just one year.

Portsmouth Women have massively improved

Portsmouth Women would never have battled their way to a stalemate behind enemy lines if this game was a few months ago. They didn't before.

Their previous results against Saints this season had made for grim reading, namely 5-0 and 4-0 defeats in league and cup.

Sadler is a beacon of positivity and knows inside-out the capabilities of the women's team, having been in the post for over eight years and been on every step of its transformation to a full-time operation in Portsmouth.

This is exactly why he is the right coach for the squad at this present time, looking to navigate their way clear and no doubt keeping an eye on the results of relegation rivals Sheffield United and Blackburn Rovers throughout the final few weeks of the campaign.

Pompey can be immensely proud of the goalless draw against Southampton - for it demonstrates a crucial sign that they are doing things the right way; that results are coming, and that the decision to go professional after just one year semi-pro wasn't one that would come back to haunt them.

Pompey have three 'cup finals' to go

Following the impressive back-to-back wins over Sheffield United and Sunderland this month, Portsmouth fans can be forgiven for wondering where on earth that came from.

Now, the result 19 miles up the M27 signifies Sadler's team really have turned a corner - that they're far from the finished article, but are starting to reap the fruits of their labour.

In terms of games played, Pompey have fewer games remaining in the Championship than the sides around them, meaning less autonomy on how the table will finish.

But three weeks ago, it looked absolute doom for the Blues; all of a sudden the escape looks very much on, even accounting for a vastly inferior goal difference not helped by results like the league derby defeat before the turn of the year.

A magical March finishes next week with a long trip to Maiden Castle to face Durham, who still have an outside chance of claiming the title and a path to the WSL.

Afterwards comes a break before two home games to finish off, with Bristol City (20 April) up first and then a potential decider against Blackburn on 27 April, not to be missed.