SAINTS Women captain Jemma Purfield promised they will "keep the South Coast red" by beating Portsmouth on Saturday at St Mary's.

Purfield, 28, admitted her pre-South Coast derby team talk will be easy but insisted her teammates understand they are in for a tough game.

Despite already beating Portsmouth twice this season by a combined score of 9-0, Pompey come into the derby on the back of two wins.

By contrast, Saints have not won a Championship fixture since early November and their last win in any competition came in the League Cup against Pompey later that month.

Purfield has never lost against Pompey as a Saints player and intends to keep that record beyond Saturday's 5:30 kick-off.

"My first ever South Coast derby was last year in the FA Cup and I did score a header. It was really exciting," she told the Daily Echo.

"We have obviously played against them a couple of times this year, it's going to be our third time playing them so we know they're going to be tough.

"It's a derby and they're coming into it in good form. We're going to make sure that we're up for it and we want to put on a show for our fans.

"We've still got quite a lot of homegrown talent in the team. We know what it means to the club and to the city.

"We're going to make sure that we keep the South Coast red and we're really excited for it. The team talk won't be hard on Saturday."

Remi Allen was in the dugout for the previous wins over Pompey this season but has since been replaced by Marieanne Spacey-Cale.

Spacey-Cale has returned as head coach on an interim basis until the end of the season following Allen's departure by mutual consent last month.

"It's been really good," Purfield explained when asked about working with Spacey-Cale once more. "We knew Marieanne previously and she brings a bit of a different style of play.

"We've been adapting to that and enjoying being on the ball. It's going to be a good showing for Marieanne as well, I'm sure, to get back out there for a South Coast derby.

"We're not where we probably want it to be if we're being honest," she added in reference to their worst league position since being promoted to the Championship.

"At the same time, we've got an opportunity now with the last five games to put ourselves in a really good position and in a strong place to move forward next year.

"That's what we'll be doing as a team, as a collective, making sure that we keep building, get points on the board and end in the strongest position possible to build next year."