"The girls have come back and got something out of the game, which is really important if you want to be successful"

Charlotte Healy was left "really pleased" by the way in which her Bristol City Women side laid down a marker in their Subway Players Cup draw with Southampton, their first outing since the international break.

The Robins kick-started their cup campaign with a 1-1 draw against the Saints on Sunday afternoon. Katie Robinsons' second-half goal cancelled out Emma Harries' strike before the break as the points were shared at the Robins High Performance Centre.

After the full-time whistle, the Reds won a penalty shoot-out to claim a bonus point. Each of Emily Syme, Emma Bissell, Marine Dafeur and Maria Farrugia converted from the spot, while Fran Bentley saved from Megan Collett and Mary Bashford missed the target to see City run out 4-3 winners.

The two points gained against the Saints mean that the Reds find themselves 13th in the revamped table format, five places but only a point adrift of Brighton and Hove Albion and the qualification places.

Though Healy's side weren't able to beat Southampton for the second time in as many games, the City manager was more than happy come the full-time whistle.

"I'm really pleased with lots of elements of the performance," the Reds boss told the club's media team. "When I compare the performance two weeks ago with what I saw today, I think we were night and day in certain areas.

"It's difficult after international breaks, because you don't get a lot of time with the players, but certainly the things that we asked them to implement, I thought we did that. We were a lot more aggressive today, a lot harder to play against, much better in our duels, and I thought when you do those things, you see a better in-possession performance as well.

"I'm really pleased. There are things that we want to continue to build on, but certainly, I think we've laid a better marker down for how we want to start this block.

"We've come from behind again, and we've obviously not won the game today, but we've got the bonus point with the penalty shoot-out," Healy added. "You have to have something about you to be successful at this level.

"I say it all the time - I speak a lot about adversity, things don't always go your way across 90 minutes and across a league season. It's about how you bounce back and how you respond, and I thought the girls were brilliant, to be honest. When the goal went in, I don't think we stopped doing what we were doing; we did more of it.

"The girls have come back and got something out of the game, which is really important if you want to be successful in the league."

The nature of the Robins' post-international break schedule means that attention will remain on the Subway Players Cup for the next few days, with City set to face Charlton Athletic in the same competition on Wednesday evening.

The Addicks won promotion to the WSL last term, but have had a difficult start to life in the top tier. They currently sit bottom of the table, having lost all six of their league games so far, and their record in the cup hasn't been much better, as they've lost to both Crystal Palace and Brighton.

"The games are going to come thick and fast now," Healy said when asked about the upcoming trip to The Valley. "We've got a quick turnaround, and we've got to be prepared for tough WSL opposition.

"It's a great opportunity for us to test ourselves. We get to see the whole squad across the next couple of games, which I'm excited about, but ultimately, I want to see how far off we are from a team like Charlton.

"It's a game that we want to impose ourselves on and hopefully come away from successful."

OPINION

OPINION