With County Ladies having no first-team game for a few weeks, we’ve taken the time to reflect back on their season so far in league and cup. Read all about it in our latest weekly update.
The season so far…
With a couple of weeks break from First Team League action, it’s a good time to sit back and take stock of the season so far.
It was the start of Steve O’Hara’s first full season as manager of County Ladies First Team, and pre-season had gone well. Tough games against higher division opposition, leading into two good wins against local sides before our first league match.
A draw in our first FAWNL game of the season, against a Durham Cestria side who had finished third in the league and beaten us 1-5 in our final game of 2021/22, was a promising start. However, two tough away fixtures followed, with a trip to title favourites Newcastle, and an evening game at Leeds. After three games County only had a solitary point on the board and looked to kick-start the season in the next home game against Bradford.
Jess Battle scored our first two goals of 2022/23, but a freak goal and a late penalty meant County lost 2-3 and were still looking for their first win. We were playing well, but just falling short of taking the points.
An away match against Hull City, relegated from the Northern Premier at the end of last season, looked like a difficult game to improve our current run of form, but goals from Levi Rathburn and Kenzie Bentley, and a solid defensive performance, gave us a 0-2 win and our first three points.
An extra time goal from Maria Figueiredo then secured an away win against Peterborough United in the League Cup, and a single goal from new signing Ella Ritchie was enough to get the points against an in-form Barnsley team, away, at the beginning of October.
The hard work pre-season, and the promising performances were now being turned into victories, and County started to move up the table. Wins against Middlesborough and Chorley followed, leaving us comfortably mid table.
Our progress in the League Cup was halted by Stoke City from the division above, but in the Women’s FA Cup things were going pretty well!
The Team gave Steve, and Assistant Manager, Lewis Woodcock, some anxious moments in the early rounds, going behind to Althofts and Penrith from the Regional Leagues, but coming back strongly to win 3-1 and 7-3 respectively. A long away trip to Consett followed with another convincing victory, 1-6. We were through into the Third Round for the first time in the Club’s history and now teams from the Barclay’s Women’s Championship came into the draw – we got Coventry United away. Despite a goal from Bentley in the first two minutes, and leading twice in the first half, County were unable to progress to the Fourth Round, going out 4-2 at the final whistle.
In between Cup games, draws against Merseyrail and Hull City added to our points total and we finished 2022 with a convincing 3-0 home win over York City.
Last weekend’s match against title favourites Newcastle United ended in a narrow 2-3 victory for the visitors, but County more than held their own against a very strong, title chasing team.
County sit fourth in the table, our highest league position since promotion in 2019.
Stats for the season so far:
Top scorers: Maria Figueiredo (11) and Kenzie Bentley (8)
Most appearances: Levi Rathburn, Fran Davies and Kenzie Bentley have featured in all 18 games, with Davies as the only player to have started all 18. They’re closely followed by Kenedy Owen, Harriet Houghton and Lily Weston all with 17.
This season has seen far more players from the Reserve and Development squads being given a chance to show what they can do in the First Team than in previous years, a really promising trend. The quality of the players coming up through the ranks, and their ability to fit in and compete for places at National League level with the First Team, is a huge credit to all the coaches working at all levels within the Club.
After a difficult start and a change of management team, the Reserves have started to show the kind of form that gave them a national trophy last season. In their last four games they have had notable wins against Newcastle and Chorley, and a Cup victory over Liverpool Feds.
The future looks very bright for the second half of the season. Congratulations to all the players and coaches.
