DETERMINED Paige Peake insisted she always believed the trajectory of her career could lift off but said: “I just have to keep my feet on the floor.”

The defender has made a big impact on Saints Women since her arrival from Ipswich Town in the summer.

Peake scored her first competitive goal for the St Mary’s side during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Championship leaders London City Lionesses.

After Sarah Ewens scored the opener for the hosts, Saints striker Ella Pusey raced into the box and was brought down by the London City Lionesses keeper.

Up stepped Peake to coolly convert from the spot and keep up her side’s unbeaten league record since the opening day of the campaign.

Peake has played a key role for Spacey-Cale’s side since her arrival, having also been selected for England under-23s this season.

Asked how it felt to be competing at the top end of the Championship, having only turned professional in 2021, the 20-year-old said: “I always believed in myself that this would be the trajectory of my career but yeah, things are going really well.

“I just have to keep my feet on the floor and enjoy every day as it comes.

“I’m loving it, we’re doing well in the league and I’m growing with every game. It’s a great group of girls and that makes every day enjoyable, hopefully we can push on.”

Saints are currently fourth in the league table, having picked up 19 points from their opening 10 games.

“We’ve gone to the league leaders every time and have taken points off of them whether it’s a win or draw and we continue to show we deserve to be where we are in the table,” said Peake.

“We’re enjoying it at the moment.

“To be fair to London City they were on top in the first half but we saw it out, put our bodies on the line to keep the ball out of the net and then we were braver and bolder in the second-half.

“That resulted in us winning the penalty in the end, and we saw out the final few seconds to get the point.

“They were a good team and arguably the best we’ve played so far, moved really well.”

Saints now have a break from league action until the new year.

The St Mary’s side visit Bristol City in the Women’s FA Cup on Sunday (3pm), before a Continental Cup home clash with Tottenham on Sunday, December 18 (noon).

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