MARIEANNE Spacey-Cale is confident her Saints team will finish the season ‘with a bang’ as they enter the final five games of the campaign beginning on Sunday, March 26, with a home clash against Bristol City.

In a remarkably successful maiden Championship season, Saints were in genuine contention for promotion up until the new year before results began to dry up in recent weeks.

Saints still find themselves fifth in the Championship table but are now 12 points off of the top and comfortably clear of the relegation zone. In terms of concrete achievements, one could look at the table and think Saints have very little to play for.

But that’s certainly not an attitude Spacey-Cale subscribes to.

“You hear this a lot: ‘there’s not much to play for.’ But for me,  if you’re competitive, driven, if you love what you do, then there’s always something to play for,” the Saints Women’s boss told the Daily Echo ahead of the game against Bristol City.

“For us, because we had such a good part of the season - and at one point I think we were top of the table - the expectation externally becomes ‘oh we’re going to get promoted.’ But internally, we maintained what we set out with our goal tree: what we should do, what we could do, and what we might just do. 

“So we never get hung up on the just might because that’s your blue sky thinking. But we keep concentrating on what we should do. 

“We know what we set ourselves as targets and goals at the beginning of the season. Let’s close the external noise and just keep focusing on what we set out to do.

“We set out our goals, we’re very focused, and that’s what we’re playing: what we set out for at the start of the season.”

Daily Echo: It's been a hugely successful maiden Championship season for Saints.It's been a hugely successful maiden Championship season for Saints. (Image: Stuart Martin)

This season has certainly proven that Saints can compete with the best at this level but with just three goals scored in their last seven league matches, there is still significant work left to do.

Spacey-Cale’s challenge to her players now is to keep pushing in order to end the season on a high.

“As a coach, when you’re around people, and your role is to help people get better, you trust them. That’s the biggest thing and you don’t doubt why they’re here. They’re here because they want to compete, they want to be successful, their intent is to be the best version of themselves every time they come in. 

“So for me, the squad we’ve got this season have been exceptional in their day to day desire and drive to push us to the position we’re in. And now I trust that they’ll know it’s the wrong time to let themselves down. 

“I know the players and I know the staff and they’ll go: five games to go, how high can we finish? Not only for us but also for the supporters who have travelled week in week out. 

“They were in Durham one week and Sunerland three weeks later! So we have that external drive as well - the club is supporting us, the supporters are supporting us, so let’s finish this season with a real bang and show that we’ve earned the right to be a competitive club in a competitive league.”