BOSS Marieanne Spacey-Cale felt Saints Women were let down by the decision to rule out Georgia Mullett's would-be winner against Portsmouth on Saturday.

Saints were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw with Pompey after Aston Villa loanee Mullett's second half strike was ruled out for offside.

Spacey-Cale insisted her side should have been awarded a free-kick for a foul on Molly Pike in the buildup after the goal was deemed offside.

"We have the tablet on the bench and we can see it. We thought if it wasn't going to be a goal - and I'll let you make a decision - it's got to be a free-kick," she told the Daily Echo.

"The referee gave the advantage so it's a free-kick or it's a goal. Hopefully we can all learn from decisions like that.

"It was an even game. When you walk off, you always want to beat your local rivals and you want to win three points but it was a fair result.

"They've had a couple of good results over the last few weeks. We never took them for granted, we knew they would come out with momentum in the first half.

"We just had to shift things around in the second half and we gained some momentum as well by making a couple of changes with the shape and bringing players onto the pitch."

The offside flag not only denied Saints a third South Coast derby victory of the season but prevented Mullett from scoring her first senior goal.

The 19 year old England youth international had chances in the first half and grew into the game after narrowly rolling a shot past the post.

"She is such a talent, she has so much potential. That goal would have given her a lot of belief and confidence in what we see in her," Spacey-Cale added.

"Part of being a striker or playing as a forward is you need to have a go. Once you get into the positions more and more, which she is starting to do now, more chances will come.

"Once you get one goal you fly because your confidence grows. We have really concentrated on us on the ball to try and create chances.

"We have tried to play forward quickly. We are stepping in the right direction. We have a good platform to build on. Let's see how it goes in the next four games."