A convincing 3-0 victory for the Royals ended an action packed week with as many as three games in seven days.

Following an entertaining 3-3 draw at home against Liverpool on Thursday night, Chambers had to rally her group to go again just three days later, for a crucial Conti Cup tie away at Southampton to keep their group progression hopes alive.

In the end, Reading made light work of the South Coast side, thanks to Troelsgaard’s early goal (4’) setting the tempo, with Wade (37’) & Vanhaevermaet (59’) sealing the victory.

Now with a full week to prepare for Reading’s final home game of the calendar year, against Tottenham, Chambers says she is now left with a selection headache following many positive performances.

“The last couple of games, we’ve been trying to put in a performance like this. These games aren’t easy, especially when it was the third game in a week, so obviously we had to make a few changes which can often disrupt the flow of the team.

“But at half-time, after putting in such a convincing 45 minutes, I had to say to the girls to come in and have a smile on your face to enjoy it, as you deserve it.

“In the end, it was an enjoyable afternoon, some great moments, good goals, and our first clean sheet as well. I couldn’t have asked for any more.

“A game like today can also have a huge boost for the groups' confidence. We haven’t hidden from the fact that the last few games we haven’t defended well enough, but we’ve been adding things in to training to help improve on this, and Sunday showed parts of it coming to fruition.

“Southampton was another opportunity to learn our roles and responsibilities, being more defensive secure and progressing up the pitch effectively to create and score. If I was to be critical of the performance, I believe we should have scored more, but the fact we continued to get into those positions is plenty to build on.

“Many may have expected us to go and get a comfortable win, but I said to the girls, this couldn’t be further from the case. Coming to the end of the three games in quick succession, it would have been easy to drop standards, but we stuck to our discipline and fair play to them.

“Now, we look ahead to this new week, with a full week to prepare for Sunday so that will be most welcome after last week.

“We all love playing games, and the girls must take credit too for the way they’ve conducted themselves on and off the pitch, to recover in time for each game.

“For us as coaches, all our attention is now on Tottenham and we can focus on the key details and work on pitch for a little longer.

“Another positive to come out of the Southampton game was the level of performance from some of the girls who may not have been starting of late. Everyone stepped up their game, to show they can compete, and it’s a ‘problem’ you want to have as a Manager.

“This level of competitiveness is also a huge boost for the group, it keeps the mentality of the group sharp and requires everyone to be on their top level to ensure they keep a place in the team, which can only help the overall team performance.”

“Great moments, goals and a clean sheet...I have a headache for Sunday”