Steve O’Hara’s County Ladies side wrapped up their league campaign with a win on Sunday afternoon, beating Norton & Stockton thanks to second-half goals from Lily Weston and Gemma Lancaster.
The win completes another positive season for the Ladies, with a top five finish in the FA Women’s National League Division One North secured to go along with last week’s Women’s Cheshire County Cup final win over Runcorn.
Manager Steve O’Hara gives his thoughts on the season as a whole:
Sunday’s win against Norton & Stockton wrapped up the 2023/24 season. A fifth-place finish with 35 points is a little short of our pre-season expectations, but that’s not to say I’m not pleased.
The highlight of the season has to be the emphatic Cheshire County Cup win against Runcorn Linnets, a 9-0 victory that secured my first trophy as a manager, but more importantly was what the girls deserved after two years of hard work to get this over the line.
A local derby win at Edgeley Park in front of a record crowd is also high on the list of good achievements for this season.
As a group, I can’t fault the commitment the players have shown this season, having slowly increased the workload on them since joining the club by introducing new standards, to try and get them in a place to challenge for promotion at some stage.
Our downfall this season, I’ve felt, has been a lack of goals and with that we ended up drawing eight games this season. Turning six of those draws into wins would have seen challenging at the top end of the table, and a lot of those games we have dominated but just not found that killer touch when we needed it.
This is something that we will need to address in the summer, if we are to challenge next season.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank each player for their efforts this season, but also to thank the ever-growing fanbase.
We are now averaging over 100 for our home games, which is a phenomenal achievement compared to when I took over with barely 20 watching the games. We also have a bit of an away following now too and it’s always great to see people making the effort to travel to watch the girls play.
We are off for a well-earned break and some family time. A recharge of the batteries and I’ve no doubt we can come back better next season.
Thank you to Stockport County for the brilliant support and exposure over the season and best of luck to the men’s team next season in League One.
Have a great summer and see you all in August.
Steve.
