html - How to apply css style for a span containing an active link

I currently have 2 links enclosed within 2 spans however when a link is clicked an dis active, the link has a class"linkActive". I need to apply a border for the span containing the active link how can one do this in css styles

     HTML
        

           
              Link1
           
           
             Link2
           
        

I would like to apply border to span containing the anchor tag with link active class

 i tried    span.sec a.linkActive{
                 border-bottom: 3px solid black;
             }

It does not seem to work. Any help will be appreciated