Saints Seal Double (Marieanne Spacey-Cale interview)

A single page with Southampton’s manager after her side won the FA Women’s National League Premier South title and the League Cup inside a week, in their first season in Tier 3. Marieanne Spacey-Cale describes the night the league was sealed – a ninth consecutive win, 2-0 against Portsmouth under the lights at St Mary’s in front of 5,145, singing in the dressing room and a few tears – and then immediately refuses to enjoy it, because promotion is not yet won. Her marathon analogy carries the piece: 26 league games are the 26 miles, but the .2 at the end is where you actually finish. She is warm about the machine behind the scenes, praises hotshot Lucia Kendall, and treats the winner-takes-all play-off against Wolves as simply another preparation problem.