Saints pay the penalty
Southampton 1 Leicester City 1 (Leicester won 4-
Barclays WSL 2 rivals Southampton and Leicester City met for the second successive week and for a second time the scores were level at the end of the match after a well contested affair.
The difference in the more recent meeting in the Subway Players Cup was the penalty shootout for a group stage bonus point, which Leicester won with the superb work of keeper Katie Keane making the difference.
Keane had already saved a penalty in the fourteenth minute, diving to her left to parry Amy Goddard's attempt after Mary Bashford had been br ought down. Keane then dropped on the rebound after a lengthy scramble three yards out.
Alisha Lehmann and Poppy Prichard both had good chances to give Leucester the lead before half time but neither could beat Alina Santos in the home goal.
It was the home team who started the second half strongly at Eastleigh FC's Silverlake Stadium and took the lead via a Libbi McInnes shot which took a big deflection and evaded Keane's attempts to keep it out.
Southampton had a couple of chances to kill off the game. going to close through Maria Edwards and Niamh Murphy but, with three minutes of normal time left, the visitors found an equaliser when a left wing corner was forced home by Paulina Nystrom at the far post.
The bonus point shootout went in favour of the visitors by 4 goals to 3 with Keane adding to her penalty save tally for the afternoon and frustrating the hosts who had been close to a valuable Subway Players Cup win.
Southampton: Alina Santos, Megan Collett, Amy Goddard, Milly Mott, Niamh Murphy, Libbi McInnes, Saffia Rae, Mary Bashford, Ellie Brazil, Emma Harries, Freya Jupp. Subs: Rachel Brown, Ruby-
Leicester City: Katie Keane, Heather Payne, Simone Sherwood, Jessie Stapleton, Sarah Mayling, Libby Bance, Olivia McLoughlin, Poppy Pritchard, Missy Goodwin, Araya Dennis, Alisha Lehmann. Subs: Paulina Nystrom, Asmita Ale, Denny Draper, Emilia Pelgander, Ava Baker, Tara Kirk, Ella Collinson.
