Albion Women will embark on another FAWNL Cup campaign when they welcome Birmingham City PGA to Ray Hall Lane on Wednesday night (ko 7.45pm).
The Baggies came within a hair’s breadth of reaching the final last term, but they were narrowly beaten by AFC Bournemouth at the semi-final stage.
Charlie Fripp’s side have been drawn in Group N alongside Lye Town, Sporting Khalsa and the young Blues, with them due to play all three sides in an attempt to reach the knockout stages.
The opposition
Albion have benefitted from the promise of the Blues’ youth products over the last few years.
The likes of Delphi Cole, Millie Pullen, Lucy Jones and Beth McGowan are part of the Baggies’ alumni to have enjoyed loan spells from St Andrew’s @ Knighthead Park, while Taylor Reynolds, Charlotte Clarke, Lucy Day and Riya Mannu have all joined permanently after spells in the second city.
The Blues are reigning PGA Cup champions after securing back-to-back titles - becoming the first team to do so. Albion’s first summer signing, Day, scored in their most recent final victory over Brighton and Hove Albion.
Georgia Clarke is the Head Coach after previously working within the academy set-up at Peterborough United.
Previous meetings
Albion Women (p) 1-1 Birmingham City PGA - November 2023
The Baggies secured their passage into the semi-finals of the Birmingham County FA Challenge Cup with a dramatic penalty shootout win the last time the two teams met. Goalkeeper Lucy Jones saved two penalties after the game ended level thanks to strikes from Grace Murphy and Simran Jhamat.
Pre-match thoughts
There’s no better person to help Fripp’s side prepare for this challenge than defender Day.
The 18-year-old left Blues after 10 years within their academy set-up, where she helped them claim back-to-back PGA Cup titles, captaining and scoring in the most recent one against Brighton.
Having made the step-up from academy football to the rigours of tier-three recently, and incredibly fluidly, Day has urged her teammates to show their experience on Wednesday evening.
And there’s even more motivation to “get things right” after going the first two FAWNL Northern Premier matches without a win.
She said: “Blues have some great players - I was part of the club for 10 years. They’ll be athletic, quick, and it’ll be a good test for us.
“It’s set to be a different proposition from what we usually get in tier three. It’ll be nice to see some old faces, and it’s down to us to get the job done and progress as far as we’re able to in this competition.
“They’re well-backed by the club and it’s a really well-run set-up within the U21s. I enjoyed my time there and I know the potential they have - I can help us prepare for the challenge. We have a lot of experienced players.
“It’s great to be here permanently now. It was a great decision for me to come back here and I look forward to what the rest of the season holds now. We have so much quality this year and we’re still finding ways to channel that properly, but we’ll get there - we just need a bit of time to gel now.
“It’s important we’re creating chances at the moment - it shows our quality that we can get into those places, and it’s about that final pass now. We’ve had lots of new players so it’s going to take a bit of time to click, but once it does, I look forward to seeing us succeed.
“It’s about how we take our improvements into matchdays now. The more we play together, the better we’ll become.
“Cup games are always different, players usually find another gear because they’re one-off games. Given the frustrations of last week, we’re eager to get things right this time.”
How to follow
Tickets are on sale for £6 Adults, £5 Seniors (65+), £5 20-25s, £4 17-19s, £3 Under-17s and £2 Under-14s. Disabled tickets are priced £5 - tickets can only be purchased on the gate at Ray Hall Lane.
For those unable to attend, coverage will be provided across Albion Women’s social media channels, as always.
Reaction, the match report and match highlights will be available on the club website over the coming days.
