Durham had their best game vs Southampton: How they did it and why one tactical shift played a part
Before this game, Durham had been struggling to get wins on the board as they still sit 9th in the league after 9 games. Beth Hepple was among the leagues top scorers with 5 goals going into the game, which is a pretty ridiculous number for a number 8 this early in the season. As an aside, strikers in the WSL 2 haven't really been the ones to top the goal charts early on, with Emily Scarr in 2nd who hasn't always been afforded the number 9 slot this season as she contends with Eleanor Dale for that 9 role. Of the other players to have scored at least 4 goals (of which there are currently 8 players) only 2 out and out number 9's while the other 6 are more positionally diverse with 3 wingers, 3 are number 10's/very attack-minded number 8's and a left wing-back.
Durham are quite a direct team that don't really look to build up slowly using short passes, instead they opt to hit the ball long fairly early for players such as Mollie Lambert to run onto in the channels. While that is a gross over-simplification of how they look to play, it is a fairly common action for Durham to play long into the wide channels from deep areas when they win the ball back in their own half or when they have to play over the press of the opposition. In most games they start with Poppy Pritchard as the 9 in a 4141 system that doesn't really utilise wingers that hold the width and run 1v1 vs opposing fullbacks.
Hannah Blake has taken up the slot of the starting right-sided winger, while they have swapped between Mariana Speckmaier & Grace Ede on the left side. None of these players really benefit from having the ball in wide areas. Blake often drops in centrally when Durham look to play out from deeper areas to provide an extra option in midfield. Speckmaier has been used as a striker at times as well, & Grace Ede hasn't had enough game time as yet to really make an impact but, similarly to Blake, she can look to use the spaces in central areas similar to a number 10.
What this can often mean is that Mollie Lambert & Beth Hepple, as the starting number 8's, will often find themselves in higher areas of the pitch. Lambert especially will look to run into the wide channels where she can often attack the byline and cut the ball back or get a shot off if she can get in behind the defence. Hepple will look to link the play in central areas, but she'll also burst into spaces to get on the end of the crosses that Lambert will look to play.
To get back on track, there's a game that really stood out earlier in the season. When Durham played Sheffield United at Bramall Lane earlier this season they lost to a resurgent Sheffield United team by 2 goals to 1. The part of that game that really stuck out about that game is that Durham really struggled to get the ball into the box and were forced into turning the ball over when they did get into the final 3rd. It didn't help that their shot selection was speculative at best, with only 2 of their shots coming from inside the 18 yard box (one of which was their penalty). Fast forward two weeks and manager, Adam Furness, had created a solution for their isolated striker situation.
Instead of starting Speckmaier or Ede on the left side against Southampton, Furness instead chose to start Pritchard on the left side, where they could play the ball up to her for her to hold the ball up and bring the ball back inside. As well as being able to hold the ball up out wide, Pritchard also looked to run in behind and stretch the Southampton back line alongside Speckmaier to form a split front 2 in some moments.
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| Ayre receives the ball from Blake on the right wing. |
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| After circling back, she spots Hepple ahead of her who has made the run into the space near the defence. |
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| Hepple is able to run onto the ball and get a cross off. |
Typically Durham aren't among the most aggressive pressing teams in the league but in this game they were able to really pressure Southampton in their own half into turning the ball over. In fact that's how their goal came about. In the 10th minute after Aimee Palmer won the ball back near her own team's box, and her pass into Ellie Hack encouraged Beth Hepple to follow the ball. Hack's poor touch/pass allowed Hepple to poke the ball beyond Fran Stenson.
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| Pritchard gets tackled while being outnumbered on the ball. |
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| Palmer is about to receive the ball without realising that Hepple is about to press her/the backpass |
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| Hack gives the ball away under Hepple's pressure. |
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| Hepple opens the scoring after getting onto the loose touch/pass to make it 1-0. |
It's also worth mentioning that Durham might have signed one of the best goalkeepers in the league in the summer. Catriona Sheppard has been an outstanding signing having kept 2 clean sheets and has put up an 80% save per game ratio on 4.9 saves a game. Along with her big stop in the first half to deny Atlanta Primus at the near post after a low cross got into the box, her biggest moment came at the end of the game when she was able punch away an excellent inswinging corner falling backwards at her back post to prevent Southampton taking the win.
Ultimately they didn't win this game and will have been disappointed that they weren't able to move ahead of Palace. They'll also be frustrated that they couldn't capitalise on this game as they put in a fairly meek performance the week after in the League Cup draw away to Sunderland. Admittedly neither team could progress to the next round as Liverpool had secured the maximum 9 of 9 points before they even kicked off, and Durham did heavily rotate their starting lineup making 7 changes. As a club they're in an interesting spot. They're able to give younger players a role in this team and they've been staunchly loyal to a number of players in this team, but with the league being as competitive as ever, they'll need to put in performances like this as often as they can.
