Pompey Ladies adapted well to beat Forest Green

Lucy Quinn, Leeta Rutherford and Shannon Sievwright netted in the first half for the Blues on Sunday.

It was difficult conditions for both teams, with the hosts doing well to make their pitch playable despite rain, hailstorms and strong wind.

Manager Perry Northeast was thankful the FA Premier League southern division match was played.

It was important for the players, especially with the team having not been on duty since Sunday, March 6.

The Blues boss said: ‘There were big question marks about whether the game was going to be on but credit to Forest Green they made the pitch playable.

‘It was good for us we took an early lead and built on that quite quickly.

‘The conditions turned it into a real battle.

‘The weather was awful in spells. For 10 minutes it was fine and then for 10 minutes it was hail, rain and wind.

‘Both teams had to deal with it, you have to adapt your style and our players did that very well.

‘It can be really easy to slip up and concede from a mistake so it was great we didn’t do that.

‘We had to go a bit longer at times because it was tricky to play out from the back.’

Pompey took the lead on 15 minutes when Quinn struck.

She cut in from the right and angled her shot into the bottom corner.

Centre-back Rutherford made it 2-0 when she netted from a Molly Clark corner on 22 minutes.

It could have been even better for the Blues but Rutherford saw a similar effort from a corner disallowed.

But it didn’t have a major impact on the game as Sievwright lashed home on the half-volley to make it 3-0 in first-half injury time.

The second half was a tough battle with conditions getting worse and worse.

But Pompey kept their composure throughout.

Talented Blues youngster Brittany Jeal stepped on from the bench for the final 20 minutes after showing her quality in the development squad in recent weeks.

Their excellent work continued on Sunday with a 14th match unbeaten.

Cameron Morrison managed the team to a fine 4-2 win against West Ham.

The next match for the first team is away to southern division leaders Brighton on Sunday.

Defending champions Pompey are third in the table.

Northeast’s side have only lost once in 2016 and have won their past four league matches in a row.

See the Sports Mail on Saturday for a full preview ahead of the crunch clash.