I attended the QPR Ladies Presentation Night yesterday, where the staff and players got to thank their sponsors for the season and the players received their awards from what was a roller coaster of a campaign.

The first-team bravely fought off the threat of relegation to sustain their Southern Premier League status and were Runners Up in the FA Middlesex Senior Women’s Cup, while the Reserves went on to win the FA Middlesex Junior Women’s Cup.

The event, which took place in the Tony Ingham Suite at Loftus Road Stadium was littered with photos I’d taken throughout the campaign, which was a nice touch for me as I wasn’t expecting to see all that effort put in by the staff!

The awards were as follows, which were handed out by the various sponsors as well as former QPR Director Kevin McGrath:

FIRST TEAM

Players’ Player of the Season
Elly Maggs

Players’ Player of the Season Runner Up
Melanie Bidewell

Manager’s Player of the Season
Tammy Scrivens

Young Player of the Season
Sophie Fogarty

Goal of the Season
Beth Curtis

Special Achievement Award
Simone Dwyer

RESERVES

Players’ Player of the Season
Louise Naylor

Players’ Player of the Season Runner Up
Vanessa Oppong

Manager’s Player of the Season
Louise Naylor

Young Player of the Season
Tara O’Brien

Goal of the Season
Natalie Skiverton

I was also really touched to receive a trophy for the photography work I’ve done for the Ladies. When I first got involved, I was really impressed by the set-up and dedication of the staff and the players, and was sure there were a lot of QPR fans out there who did not realise the great work being put in by the department.

So through the photography coverage I hoped to deservedly raise their profile and give all QPR fans a glimpse of who they are and what they’re achieving. Just little things like taking some photos at a game here or there can really help them in more ways than one and put them on the radar.

There’s still a long way to go of course, but slowly and surely we’re getting there.

As some of you may be aware, I have been involved with the QPR Ladies on a voluntary basis for the past three seasons.

In the first season, they won promotion from the fiercely competitive South West Combination League into the FA Tesco Women’s Premier League Southern Division, which was a wonderful achievement. The backbone of this success was built on a superb pre-season camp based in Belgium, which we all, including the staff and players, pitched in to help fund and organise.

In the second season, we competed well in the Premiership and briefly skirted around the top of the table, but we were unable to sustain our form due to the loss of key players who were pinched by bigger clubs, and that led us to consolidating and finishing respectfully well away from the drop zone. But despite that, we still managed to win the Middlesex Women’s Senior Cup.

But last season was a lot tougher for us, because several key players suffered serious injuries and a lack of finance and funding meant that our pre-season preparations were not as thorough as we would have liked. We struggled throughout the campaign and much of this was because the players had not had a decent pre-season under their belts. We survived relegation on the last day of the season and still made the Middlesex Women’s Senior Cup Final again, but were unable to retain the trophy. Despite that success, we felt it could have been, and should have been, so much more.

This season we want to make sure we have an excellent pre-season and have been invited to Jersey to play the Jersey Women’s National team as well as sides competing in the Jersey Combination Football League.

But we need your help and are looking for donations to help us fund the trip. If anybody is willing to donate, no matter how big or small, it will make a huge difference to what these Ladies can achieve and if you want to go beyond that and get involved, the Ladies department is always keen for any helpers and support on match day.

We have set up a page at www.justgiving.com/qprladies – please do give it a look and give us a hand, the players are more than worth it and in the time I’ve been involved, have represented the club wonderfully and made me very proud that they are representing Rangers.

The QPR Ladies have given themselves an unbelievable chance of retaining their Southern Premier League status with a fine win over promotion hopefuls Portsmouth, who needed to win to keep their hopes of winning the title alive.

But we had other ideas, and also needed to win to keep our hopes of survival in tact. It’s been a good month for the Ladies, who with games coming in thick and fast have found a rich vein of form at the business end of the season when it’s really been needed.

We’ve picked up vital points in recent weeks, having at one point been adrift at the bottom, but a thumping 3-0 win here lifted the Rs out of the drop zone with just one game to play, albeit against league leaders Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night.

In this match, we started second bottom in the relegation zone, so it was a must win game and we looked hungry from the outset and really applied pressure in search of that early goal, which came from a fabulous effort from captain Beth Curtis, who drilled in an unstoppable left foot strike to give us an early lead.

From there, we had two or three chances from Sarah Staples and Sophie Fogarty where we came agonisingly close to extending our lead before Fogarty finally burst through and finished coolly under intense pressure to give us some breathing space.

Portsmouth did try to rally and had chances of their own, but never really threatened in the same way as we did and we went on to clinch a third, with Curtis finishing well after driving into the box and turning her marker before finding the net.

There were several top performances, which included a real return to form by Sophie Fogarty, who played with great determination and took her goal beautifully well. Beth Curtis also looked dangerous whenever near the goal as confirmed by her brace and her strike partner Cherelle Albert put the Pompey players under constant pressure all game long. But they were matched by the impressive pairing in midfield of Elly Maggs and Hannah Curnow, who worked their socks off in the middle. Hannah’s energy is always a plus, because she can get up and down that pitch with ease as her fitness levels are superb and that allows us to press high, fast and hard and they didn’t like Portsmouth play at all. And it was the best I’ve seen from our defence in a while too and they’ll be delighted with the clean sheet.

So I was very impressed by what I saw from the players, the work ethic, especially in the heat, was first class and they already know had they hit these heights earlier they’d have been much higher up the table. But it’s been a stop-start season for so many different reasons and we’re just delighted to have finally got some momentum going. The fact that so many games have come thick and fast appears to have helped us in terms of our fitness and allowing us to gel as a team and we can look forward to the Charlton game with confidence, regardless of where they are in the table.

And I’d also like to give a special mention to Simone Dwyer, a true legend who is hanging up her boots after serving the club for so many years. She has represented the club superbly in that time and with so much dignity and pride. I’m really proud and honoured to have been able to watch her play for QPR and she will remain as one of my all time favourite players in a Hoops shirt, men or women’s football. She’ll be fondly missed because she’s one of a kind and is a really tall order to replace. A first class person both on and off the pitch and a real credit to herself and her family.

The Ladies will defend the trophy they won last year after they booked their place in the Middlesex Senior Women’s Cup Final thanks to Seun Odeniyi’s first half strike.

It was a comfortable 1-0 victory but we should have had more goals to our name and saw the game out far earlier, but we were somewhat sloppy and seemed reluctant to pull the trigger in front of goal.

The performance was a bit laboured and we struggled to find any rhythm and just couldn’t get our passing game going despite our best intentions. The pitch really didn’t help either as it was extremely boggy and bobbly but having said that, we know we can play better than we did.

Elly Maggs was head and shoulders above the rest on the day. She was on her game and won so many tackles that she had no right to and provided the all important cross field ball for Seun to bury. Had we had one or two others at that level of commitment and performance, I think we’d have definitely seen a more compelling scoreline at the end.

I also thought Melanie Bidewell had a good game and supported down the right flank really well and it was great to see Susannah Abbott back out there too. She was our player of the season two years ago when we won promotion to the Southern Premiership, but she’s been sidelined ever since after having a baby and has only managed to make a tentative return over the past months.

Denham battled bravely and well, but they didn’t really have much in the way of a game plan other than to press the play at a high intensity. They were wasteful in possession, like us, but resorted far more often to long percentage hoofs up the pitch than trying to intelligently create anything on the deck.

They rarely troubled our goal, despite one speculative effort that struck the top of our crossbar but was never really going in or troubling Emily Bourne in our goals. Down the other end, we missed several one-on-one situations and Cherelle Albert hit the crossbar from six yards and also had a perfectly good goal harshly ruled out for offside.

Overall we should be pleased to be in another final. The Ladies are still consistently finding success in each and every season, but the league is our bread and butter and we need to start picking up serious points there soon.

Brighton at home this weekend is another big game and one we need to raise our performance as well as making sure that we get what we want from the match. I’m confident that the players have all the right qualities to get themselves out of trouble in the league and that if they perform like we and they know they can, there’s no reason why they can’t retain the silverware they won in this cup competition last season either.

The Reserves booked their place in the Semi Final of the Middlesex Women’s Junior County Cup with a fine performance and victory over Headstone Manor.

Granted, we were superior to the opposition in every possible way and just too strong for them, but they put in a really spirited rearguard effort to keep the scores down and I admired their team spirit and desire to keep going.

But I was so impressed with our lot. Sometimes these games are difficult, because you’re just so in control, but we dominated the play really intelligently and made the ball do all the work and Headstone Manor do all of the running. They’re the kind of matches that you can win big but play poorly or just not focus enough in and scrape through and I’ve seen that happen to us over the years, but not this time.

The manner we patiently recycled possession and played it around the back and the midfield showed a new intelligence about the side and that many of our players have really improved since I last saw them. It was a professional and disciplined performance and we could have easily hit double figures had we taken a bit more care in front of goal.

Instead, we saw two goals either side of half-time, starting with Vanessa Nicholson and Tara O’Brien in the first and Ceryl Guard and Chloe Julien in the second. In between all of that, some gutsy defending and good goalkeeping kept the scores down and the only criticism we can have of the players is that they tried to walk the ball into the net too often, rather than just having a pop.

But there’s no point focusing on the negatives, because there weren’t many at all. The positives were the way we played. The defence remained focused throughout, which isn’t always easy when you’ve not got a lot to do defensively and the full-backs Hayley Blake and Ceryl Guard got forward and supported the attack really well. The midfield trio in Tara O’Brien, Vanessa Oppong and Anita Afonso were excellent, dominating and dictating the play with ease and they recycled possession impressively and were patient and probing at the right times throughout.

Frankie Simmons and Kesleigh Danielle Long also put in good shifts in the wide areas and Sarah Staples was really busy and dangerous at the top end too. All of this too, in really difficult wet conditions, with the pitch heavily soaked and rain all through the match from start to finish. But you wouldn’t have guessed it was a tricky pitch by the way we adapted and still played our football and it would have been a great experience as a result for the opposition.

There were many things that struck me about the game. The likes of Hayley Blake and Vanessa Nicholson were playing for the Third team last season, but today these look like totally different players. Vanessa is bordering on being a first-team regular now, such has her progress been. The past couple of times I’ve seen her play there’s been a maturity about her work that’s beyond her years and a focus that’s sometimes missing from players of her age. Hayley has come on leaps and bounds too as well as Anita and you know the team are getting somewhere when the likes of Louise Catherine Hayes is having a period on the bench. I think she’s a cracking player, so it shows that competition is good and she has to knuckle down and work hard to get herself back in the side.

Overall, this was a really pleasing display and the attitude and approach of the players did themselves, the staff and the club proud. If they play like that in the next round against British Airways in the Semi Final, they’ll have a great chance of making the Final.

The first-team and the reserves were both supposed to be in cup action over the weekend, but the weather once again forced both fixtures to be called off and instead a hastily arranged friendly took centre stage.

So we faced Barnet and took the opportunity to give several reserve team players a chance to mix it with a side who although are bottom of the National Premier Division, would still provide a stern test for us and that’s what it turned out to be.

It was also a great chance for us to get some minutes under our belts, because so many of our players just haven’t had enough football over these past few months. It makes it very hard to maintain good fitness levels, form and rhythm if you’re not able to train and play regularly.

We competed quite well in the first-half, but were punished for every little mistake we made and somehow went in four goals down. That was a little harsh on us, but Barnet’s high tempo and superior fitness levels were clearly the difference and their sharpness was just a little too much for us at this time. They capitalised on that weakness in our ranks really well.

We struggled to deal with them in the wide areas, often allowing them time to turn inside and deliver into the box or shoot from long-range. At least two, if not three of their goals were strikes from distance where we couldn’t find the legs to keep pressing and shut out the danger and with the quality they’ve got in terms of players who can really strike a ball, we were always going to dice with danger and ultimately paid the price.

The coaching staff asked the team to recycle possession more in the second and try to build from the back, but we knew as the match went on that our fitness levels would become even more of a problem and despite having no grumbles with the effort, that proved to be the case and we struggled at times to get going or keep up.

Still, Cherelle Albert managed to grab an opportunist strike from the half way line, which should give he some confidence over the coming weeks and I was impressed with how much Vanessa Nicholson has matured since I first saw her a couple of years ago for the Third team.

It was also good for many of the reserve team players to have a chance to play with some of our first-teamers, but also against quality players and who operate at the highest level in the country for Barnet. That will aid their development further and be a valuable experience.

But overall, we looked somewhat off the pace and suffered a little from fielding a side that hadn’t much game time together on the pitch before. We looked a little bit lost in terms of knowing each others games and made too many collective and individual mistakes that you can only class as elementary.

Nevertheless, it was a good opportunity for players to play football and that will benefit us given how stop-start this season has been. We’ve one too many players a little short of match fitness and they’ve got to pull out all the stops in training and in their own personal time to make sure they’re firing on all cylinders for the run in. They owe that to themselves and each other because they’re a good bunch of players and can definitely finish the season really well if they want to.

Barnet’s Stacey Sowden impressed too, with all her quality and experience and she’s got a cracking strike on her as has several of their players. Some of our younger defenders will have learned a thing or two coming up against her and you can see why she’s scored so many goals for them over the years.

This friendly against Watford Ladies, who play in the division above, was the first football that either side has had in a long time due to the weather.

It turned out to be an excellent workout for both parties. We had a lot of players missing, but it was a good opportunity to get some minutes under our belt ahead of the league campaign resuming.

We fielded one or two youngsters from the Reserves, a couple of new players and had a couple continuing their return from long-term injuries. So this was always going to be about our fitness levels rather than the result, but we came away pretty pleased with the performance too, despite the loss.

We were always in the game, but went in at the interval three goals down, thanks to conceding twice sloppily in the final minutes of the first-half, where we looked a bit leg weary and tired.

Nevertheless, we were still relatively pleased, as the scoreline, despite Watford’s dominance, was somewhat flattering for them. The players were asked to dig deep in the second period, to try and match The Hornets again but to try and have the second half score reflect more favourably on us.

So we wanted them to go out and win that second forty-five minutes, despite the obvious issue of fatigue setting in and the players responded well to that challenge, scoring and conceding twice to leave us with a 5-2 loss.

There were many positives for us throughout the 90 minutes. Elly Maggs had a fine game on the right of midfield, an unfamiliar position for her but she got up and down aplenty and made lots of great tackles and interceptions.

Sophie Fogarty continued her comeback from a knee injury she sustained on the opening day of the season as did Cherelle Albert, who suffered a knee injury in only her second game since rejoining the club and had been out ever since. There were other players who also benefitted, such as Ceryl Guard and Seun Odeniyi who had been carrying knocks over previous months too.

Cherrelle grabbed a fine brace with two well taken goals and probably should have had a third too. But it was more important these players got 90 minutes under their belts and we can be really pleased they came through unscathed.

Carla Williams also made a guest appearance for us, and she had a great game. We miss her height and unique style in terms of the way she holds up the play and brings others into action. But it’s also her bite and character, which she has in abundance and makes her a real asset to any team.

Overall we can be pleased with this display. I was impressed with how the players took on board the feedback at half-time and tried to alter their game, to not only nullify some of the strengths of the Watford team, but to be more dangerous in attack too and we achieved that after a relatively quiet first half in front of their goal.

The hard work starts now though and hopefully the team can rise to the challenge between now and the end of the season and show everybody that they are much better than the current table suggests.

We did the basics right and in fact, defensively we put in a good shift; winning many tackles and headers that we had no right to, but we just couldn’t build anything from there and our passing and movement going forward just wasn’t at the races.

Yeovil Town Ladies won the South West Combination last season and the season before last, when we were promoted, I felt they were the best side other than ourselves that I saw during that campaign. So this was always going to be a good test, but they didn’t really play that well either, but they capitalised on our inability to take the game by the scruff of the neck and scored two goals at the right time to take the points.

Jemma Tewkesbury got them both in the second-half, one from the penalty spot and another from a cross that fortunately for them, sailed high into the top corner of the net, giving Emily Bourne in goal no chance at all.

But Tewkesbury should have never been on the pitch by that stage, because in the first-half she retaliated by striking one of our players in the face, right in front of the referee, after being fouled when dribbling with the ball. In the context of the crime, the punishment Tewkesbury decided to dish out was really unjustified. It was a moment of complete hot-headed madness on her part.

Players must control themselves and learn how to remain disciplined and that they can’t take the law into their own hands on the pitch. It was about as blatant a red card as you’ll ever see, but the referee sadly bottled it and only showed Tewkesbury a yellow.

It’s really not good enough to see decisions like this at any level of football and while I don’t want to see anybody being sent off, there has to be a level of consistency and common sense applied to these type of incidents. This is the sort of stuff that isn’t acceptable, yet the officials seemed more concerned about how many people were standing in the technical areas for either side than applying the proper laws to the actual game of football going on. And if you’re going to get fussy about that, then well, you’ve got to officiate properly on the pitch. Really disappointing.

There were positives for us though, despite the outcome. The defence were nice and solid, with Simone Dwyer winning several hey headers and tackles and Beth Liles and Shannon Maloney doing the same in the middle. But we were really sloppy with our passing, particularly when we won possession and that’s the real reason we never got going.

We had chances to score too, but just didn’t make the most of them. Seun Odeniyi had a terrific chance to score after a mazy run in the first half, but saw her effort flash agonsingly wide of the post.

Beth Curtis got into several great positions in second. The first chance, she rounded the keeper after latching onto a poor back pass, but saw her effort well blocked by the covering Yeovil defender and she hit the bar from a free-kick as well.

Towards the end, Curtis had a great chance that may have brought us back into the game, but sliced her effort and saw it blocked. Yeovil defended well when they really had to, but we just didn’t test them enough in open play on the day.

Had any of those little things gone for us, it may have been different and kick started our attacking play into life. But it was just one of those days and you have to give Yeovil credit in the end for taking their chances.

I was surprised they left Laura Bray on the bench and for so long. She’s a terrific striker and will give them some good attacking options throughout the remainder of the season. She nearly scored after coming on too, but Emily pulled off a good block at a tight angle to keep her out. Kayleigh Nardiello also had a good dual with Ceryl Guard throughout the match too.

Overall, despite the frustrating performance, there were lots of positives to take away and we just need to re-group and continue fighting for every point in every game we play. There was nothing here to be overly worried about, we do need to play more intelligently at times and know how to impose ourselves against sides that we think we should be doing better against. Here, we were a little bit too direct and gung-ho when we won the ball, when all we needed was to be a little more patient and build up the play and create consistent pressure. Had we done that, it could have led to a different outcome.

The players dug deep and really ground out the result we needed here and they must take great credit for the way they defended as a team and still remain dangerous in attack at the same time. We worked our socks off all over the park and executed the game plan asked of them really well prior to kick-off.

Gillingham had a lot of the ball and retained possession in defence and midfield well, but they couldn’t break us down or find a way through that would leave to the golden opportunity they wanted in front of goal. In contrast, we did penetrate their back line and looked dangerous whenever we got in an around their penalty area.

Cherelle Albert’s return to QPR is a welcome one, having left last season and had spells at Chelsea Ladies and Millwall Ladies in the top-flight. She already looks a better player from the experience and her movement and ability to drive at players when on the ball is always going to cause defenders problems. She played very well on the day and was unlucky not to score, but she did play a key role in both of our goals.

The first, she found her way through after being picked out by Shannon Maloney and drilled in a fierce shot that England U19 goalkeeper Becky Spencer did well to save. Spencer though could only parry the ball into the path of Sandra Scalzi, who was on hand and quickest to react to the rebound to fire us into a 1-0 lead in the first-half.

In the second period, we changed things around a little bit in terms of personnel, to help nullify Gillingham’s threats further and we looked even tighter across the park as a result. Gillingham to their credit just kept going, but the more they searched for an equaliser the more vulnerable they were to the counter.

We exploited that really well, doubling our advantage after some link-up play between Cherelle and Elly Maggs, who put a pinpoint precision ball into the box for captain Beth Curtis to latch onto. Beth’s finish, which was an audacious chip at an awkward height was superbly taken and demonstrated her excellent technique and composure in front of goal.

I liked what I saw of Gillingham in terms of their ball retention in and around the defensive and midfield areas. They passed and moved relatively well but they seemed to run out of ideas when they got to the attacking third. Their wide players played really well in the first-half too, but they couldn’t seem to convert their good work into clear cut chances, and we should take some of the credit for that for reacting well, mopping up danger and clearing our lines when it mattered most. As the match went on, I just couldn’t really see where they would get a goal from and some of the tackles and headers put in by the likes of Simone Dwyer, Tammy Scrivens, Melanie Bidewell and Beth Liles was just excellent.

I haven’t managed to see the Ladies play as much as I would have liked this season, due to work and outside commitments, but on this evidence there’s no reason for them to climb up the table and start picking up points on a more consistent basis. I was impressed by the entire sides graft and desire to get the victory.

Yes we still need to work on things and improve, but the return of the likes of Cherelle Albert and Ceryl Guard will strengthen the squad no doubt and new signings like Sandra Scalzi will only help to add further balance to the side. If we can maintain our fitness levels and get more of our injured players out of the treatment room and back onto the pitch, I’ve no doubt we’ll have more days like this one than not.

Here’s a few shots I grabbed on the day.

The opening game to the league campaign was marred by a bad injury to youngster Sophie Fogarty five minutes from time, which led to the match having to be abandoned early.

Sophie suffered a knee injury and needs further scans to understand the full extend of the damage, but it’s clear she will be out of action for some time. It’s a huge loss for the side and a massive shame for Sophie, after breaking onto the scene so emphatically last season.

As for the match, this was never a four-nil, despite Keynsham Town being the better side on the day on the whole. We started brightly, played some decent football and almost had our noses in front when Beth Curtis hit a spectacular volley from outside the penalty box towards the right that came back into play off the inside of the post.

Then we had a clear penalty shout when Sophie was bundled over as she broke into the box by the Keynsham captain. I thought it was a nailed on penalty myself, considering the defender never went for the ball, but the referee waved play on.

Keynsham then responded themselves and where our luck wasn’t in, theirs was. We conceded a soft free-kick in the middle of the park and didn’t react fast enough as the possession quickly changed over and a through ball played into the path of their striker, just inside and wide right of the box saw us in trouble.

The striker still had plenty of work to do, but finished with real aplomb and her low drive struck the inside of the far post, but rather than come back out like ours, the ball nestled into the back of the next and we were 1-0 down.

I still thought it was anybody’s game at this point and we pushed forward for an equaliser with plenty of decent attacks, which included another penalty claim when Beth Liles was bundled over in the penalty area. I really felt Kenysham couldn’t have argued if either were given and we came away bitterly disappointed to get neither.

Sophie also turned a half-chance into a good effort when she flashed a strike just wide of the post, which the majority of us all thought was heading in. But while the momentum was growing for us, a moment of madness and later fortune, saw the visitors double their lead.

A ball into the box was punched clear by Claire Farrow, but a deft chip from one of the Keynsham players had her beaten and Melanie Bidewell scrambled back in an attempt to clear the ball, but clearly handled it before it crossed the line and went in.

Despite the referee’s assistant flagging for a clear handball on the line, the referee decided to overrule and awarded the goal. As a consequence, Melanie could consider herself extremely lucky to have get away with just a yellow card and we went into the break two goals down.

We still felt we had a chance to get back into the game, but we needed to score the next goal. In the second-half, we wanted to get at them again and apply pressure, but we conceded two sloppy goals and the game was over, despite creating plenty of dangerous moments that we failed to capitalise on.

We also looked a little bit tired as the game wore on, which was a shame, but some of the players are still short of minutes on the pitch and it showed as we went through the motions for periods during the second-half.

Kenysham could have added to their lead when we were leg wary, but that would have been unfair in the context of the match. We still had Claire to thank for one or two excellent saves in near point blank or one-on-one situations though.

Then, with five minutes from time, Sophie picked up a serious knee injury when attempting to clear a ball completely unchallenged, which was the result of the blades from her boot’s standing leg getting caught in the turf. Both sets of players rushed to her aid in visible distress and after 20-30 minutes of treatment and ambulance attention, the referee decided to call a halt to proceedings with the result standing. Kenysham themselves were no strangers to injury and had two players retire from the match with their arms in slings.

Reflecting on the match, I was pleased with many elements of our first-half performance, but what we lacked was a little bit of fitness and time on the pitch together as well as the composure needed in the final third to make the right decision to unlock the opposition’s defence and give us the best chance of scoring.

Had we got at least one of those penalty decisions, it may have been a very different outcome or inspired us to really go after getting a result or something from the game. In the end we lost to a good side, who have plenty of decent players including some international players and we never looked out of place at all. Their finishing was also superior on the day and the strikers deserve credit for the way they took their chances when they came.

We also need to do some work on our defensive positioning, because we made life a little more difficult for ourselves than we needed to at times. It just boiled down to not picking the best positions to start from and to make the opposition play in the direction you want them to, but these are all issues that can be solved and ironed out.

So we were not far away here, despite the score and the players need to dust themselves down and get on with it. On this evidence, they can only grow stronger and player better and we still had several players out of action, due to injuries and who are not quite ready to return to the first-team yet. When they do, we’ll be in a much healthier state in terms of strength in depth.

I’m really gutted for Sophie, but she’s young enough to make a full recovery and we have our fingers and toes crossed for her for when she has her scans. It’s important that she has the support of her friends and family as well as her teammates and that she remains disciplined for any rehabilitation work she needs to carry out before returning. She’s a sensational player and this won’t stop her from reaching the dizzy heights she’s capable of achieving.

As for the rest of the players, I was pleased to see Elly Maggs continuing her comeback from a serious knee injury last season and I was impressed with Beth Liles’ tactical awareness on the pitch too. Then we have the likes of Vanessa Nicholson and Hayley Blake who were both playing Third team football last season and have been thrown in at the deep end to cover for some of our other absences. The experience they’re gaining from this will only help develop them further as players, so there’s still a lot to be pleased and positive about.

Team: Claire Farrow, Sarah Walters, Hayley Blake, Melanie Bidewell, Tammy Scrivens, Vanessa Nicholson (Natalie), Beth Liles, Simone Dwyer, Elly Maggs, Beth Curtis & Sophie Fogarty

Subs: Becky (GK) and Natalie