WOMEN'S captain Rosie Parnell believes the club’s summer signings have increased standards as they set their aims on a promotion to the Women’s Super League.

Southampton FC, who currently sit first in the Championship with two wins from their opening two games, signed a number of players with experience at the top level.

Jemma Purfield and Molly Pike - who claimed player of the week for the opening fixture - both arrived from WSL Leicester City, while Atlanta Primus joined having represented Jamaica at the 2023 World Cup.

“They’ve given us a massive boost,” Parnell told the Daily Echo. “They’ve brought so much experience and we’ve got more leaders on the pitch, which I think is important.

“Jemma is a big voice. They are good people as well as players. We have been lucky for the entire time I’ve been at this club to have a great team dynamic every season.

“It’s really important to continue that. The characters who have joined this season feel like they’ve been here forever.

“Training has increased massively in terms of technically and tactically. From a technical standpoint, you can definitely tell the difference.

"It’s become a lot quicker and I think you could definitely tell that on the pitch in our first game of the season with what we were doing with the ball.

“We want to get promoted. We want to be in the WSL, but that is not going to be easy. There are a lot of teams in this league that have recruited really well."

Daily Echo:

The addition of higher-quality players has naturally upped the levels of training. Competition for places has also ramped up as a result of further depth.

Part of Parnell’s job as captain is to ensure that her teammates remain harmonious, even though they may be left disappointed with the squad selection on a match day.

“Competition for places is great. Marieanne (Spacey-Cale) might not agree because she’s probably got a headache from selecting who starts," Parnell quipped. 

"It’s good for us as players because it pushes us on. So far I feel like we have stuck together really well through all the games in pre-season.

"That’s going to be massive going forward, obviously, it’s a bigger squad, but everyone is willing to play their part.

"As long as everyone knows their role for each game we will be absolutely fine.

“I’m there to remind them of that, but it’s not just me. We have a leadership group (made up of Purfield, Lucia Kendall and Kayla Rendell) who help make my job easier.

"Marieanne is also important in terms of communicating. She does quite well to remind players what their roles are because we had quite a few that weren’t in the squad.

“Everyone has different roles and it’s just about reiterating that to do what’s best for the team."