SAINTS Women boss Remi Allen was pleased her side secured a point against Bristol City despite not performing to the level she expected.

Former Saint Lexi Lloyd-Smith scored the Robins' equaliser on her return to St Mary's after summer signing Aimee Palmer had given Allen's side the lead.

Bristol City, recently relegated from the WSL, had most of the chances on the opening day but were let down with their end product in the final third.

Allen, who was taking charge of her first competitive game as Saints Women's head coach, explained why she was dissatisfied with the performance - despite securing what could be an important point.

Allen told the Daily Echo: "I'm happy that we got a point but I'm not happy with the performance.

"I've been really honest with the players and they know that they haven't performed to the level that they can.

"The positives are that we ground it out and we got a point on the board against a strong side that has just been relegated from the WSL. There are positives but also loads of things that we can develop upon.

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"At the break, we told them that they had to be better in every department. Out of possession, our structure was ok but I don't think we were getting in the dual and staying there very well.

Saints drew 1-1 with Bristol City on the opening weekend of the Women's ChampionshipSaints drew 1-1 with Bristol City on the opening weekend of the Women's Championship (Image: Southampton FC / Chris Moorhouse)
"I asked for a little bit more in that. We wanted to isolate their players in the wide areas. We didn't do that at all in the first half, but we got some joy when we did it in the second half. I'm proud of them for their reaction.

"You kind of never know how the first game of the season is going to go. It's cagey and you don't know too much about the opposition. We are still working and figuring out how each other plays."

Saints Women travel to Sunderland - who suffered a 5-0 defeat to Birmingham City on the opening day of the season - next Sunday.

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Asked what Saints need to do in order to secure three points on the road, Allen said: "We need to profile them to work out how we can exploit them and hurt them. We need to be more solid out of possession."

Saints were without goalkeeper Kayla Rendell, who had surgery over the summer, and midfielder Chloe Peplow for the opening game of the season.

"They are progressing nicely," she explained. "I can't give you an exact timescale because it all depends on how they train this week. They aren't too far away - we aren't in a bad place with our injured players."