Southern currently sit second in the National League: South Central Series after they suffered their first defeat, a 3-0 loss to Capital last Saturday. This weekend, Southern head north to face Central, a side that despite sitting at the bottom of the table, are not to be underestimated.  

Last weekend’s game was a close contest with Southern’s players showing determination throughout. Southern created plenty of chances and despite an effort from Shontelle Smith that skirmished the crossbar, the Capital defence could not be broken down. 

Graeme Smaill was delighted with the determination shown by his team and reflects there are areas where Southern can improve, “We’re creating clear chances but not finishing them, that can catch up with you, and it certainly did on Saturday.” Graeme believes that Capital were more clinical than Southern on Saturday, “They controlled possession better than we did and all credit to Capital who deserved the win. I felt like the team deserved a goal from their efforts, but it wasn’t to be.”  

Graeme is confident that his squad can bounce back against Central, “This week’s going to be interesting to see how the girls respond to a completely different challenge. Central might be targeting us now as maybe their best opportunity to pick up a point.” Central have lost all four of their matches so far but have put in some solid performances and Graeme feels like home advantage could play a part in the outcome of Sunday’s fixture, “It’s their last game at home, it’s a smaller field so they can play a more compact game which suits them. Our challenge is finding ways to get in behind them whilst still creating space for our attackers.” 

There was some excellent football on display in the loss to Capital with great performances from the starting XI and the substitues. Chelsea Whittaker was one of several players who were tantalising on the counter attack. She made an array of mazy runs forward, at times, it seemed like the ball was magnetised to her feet, “Chelsea is always prepared to take players on and put herself out, she’s never scared of losing the ball and is always looking to win it back, always happy to give it a go.” Graeme is hoping that her on the ball attitude can be adopted by some of the squad’s younger players, “You’ve got to be creative if you want to be successful at this level and it’s something we’re working on with the younger members of the squad.” 

Looking ahead to his team selection for Sunday’s trip, Graeme explains he is in the fortunate position of having plenty of options, “It’s lovely to be in a spot where you’re 50/50 between players. It's good for it to be super competitive and to see the girls giving everything at training and in games.” Shontelle Smith is unlikely to be available for Sunday’s fixture, “That gives someone else an opportunity, myself and the coaching team are still mulling over our options, it would be great if we could start 13 or 14 players!” The starting XI for Sunday is not yet set in stone, “I’ll have more discussions with Jess and Tom around who starts, between the three of us, we’ll decide.”  It has been a stellar start to the season for Southern, “We're very pleased with how the season is going,  we've had such a good start but don’t want to have a poor finish. It's in our control, we want 3 points this week, and then we have the possibility of beating the defending champions Pride... maybe the fairytale is still on track!”  

Sunday’s match kicks off at 12pm and as always, live coverage is available via Sky Sports Next and you can also subscribe to the Sky Sport Next channel. Graeme will also be on this week’s New Zealand Football show, which will be broadcast at 730pm on Wednesday on Sky Sports 7.