Women academy

Posh Women Under 23s open their 2024/25 campaign in the FAWNL Reserve League Cup this weekend.

Peterborough United Women Under 23s begin their season on Sunday afternoon (3pm) as they host Chorley Women Reserves in the FA Women’s National League Reserve League Cup Round One at the idverde Training Ground. 

Michael Allsebrook’s squad lost in the determining round last season against a strong Boldmere St Michael’s side full of First Team players, but performed well in the Reserve League Plate as they fell runners-up to Liverpool Federation Reserves in the final 4-3. 

Opponents, The Magpies’, compete in the Northern Division of the Reserve League where they finished 10th last season, four points off bottom place Halifax. They reached the quarter final of the competition back in the 2021/22 season but have failed to get past the first round since. 

Team News

Under 23s Coach, John Currall, confirmed that a near full squad will be available for Sunday with Taya Smith, Melissa Riley and Bronte Cooper the only absentees. 

Top scorer for Chorley Women Reserves last season was Sophie Newman who netted four times in 17 appearances. Several Reserve players also appeared for their First Team in the FAWNL Division One North including Paige Hodgkinson and Hannah Derbyshire. 

From The Coach

Currall said: “The squad is in a good mood and are ready to get started. We’ve had a really good pre-season. We’ve welcomed some new players into the squad so it’s taken a bit of time for the players to gel and understanding how we want to play but we are ready to start the competitive season. It’s all about development as opposed to results. We were really happy with how the players were in pre-season, they’ve progressed from the first game to last weekend against a tough Ipswich side. Overall, we’re really happy with how the girls have taken pre-season.”

“Any game is tough at this level. It’s the first time that we’ll have played Chorley so it’s a bit of going into the unknown. We’ll have a game plan as always of how we want to play and we’ll approach the game in the right manner.”

Live Updates

Updates of the game will be available on The Posh Academy X account, with post-match reaction also on the website.