SAINTS Women boss Marieanne Spacey-Cale was delighted with her side's "never say die" attitude in their thrilling 4-3 win over Crystal Palace on Sunday.

Saints twice took the lead at Selhurst Park before the hosts struck level. Palace then took the lead early in the second half, but Saints remained headstrong to turn the game around.

Katie Wilkinson scored the winner in the 84th minute, heading in from substitute Lexi Lloyd-Smith's cross to see Southampton FC leapfrog Palace into third in the Women's Championship.

Speaking to Saints' club media after the game Spacey-Cale said: “It’s a vital three points. It was a really good performance, not just with the way we played football, but our mentality as well.

"To feel like you’re in the game then you go 3-2 down and turn it around again shows the mentality of this group is ‘never say die’.

“We worked hard for the three points. Palace are a really good side and we had to be closing in on our best to get the three points.

“I’m delighted with the win, but more so how we managed our emotions in the key moments of the game.”

Having failed to score in their previous game against fellow promotion hopefuls Charlton last time out at St Mary's, Saints returned to their goalscoring ways in the capital.

This was the third time that the south coast side have hit four goals on the road this season. Despite their fortunes in attack, Spacey-Cale is keen to cut out the problems at the back.

“It’s great to score four, but we also need to look at how we concede goals because that is also important," she added.

“We don’t want to be scoring four and conceding three. But this shows that the players are confident and they are believing in themselves.

"They trust each other and themselves. This is the kind of performance that we can produce.”