Albion Women will travel to Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon (ko 2pm), as they take on Burnley in the FAWNL Northern Premier.
Siobhan Hodgetts-Still’s outfit face their second league clash of the week, having beaten Rugby Borough 2-1 at the Alexander Stadium on Wednesday evening, their first match in the division in 2026.
The Baggies moved up to sixth place with their midweek win, and now they’ve gathered 18 points from 13 matches, a trip to league leaders, the Clarets will surely spur on their efforts to maintain momentum.
Last time out
Albion beat Rugby Borough in their last league outing, despite going a goal down at their Perry Barr-based home. Strikes from Zoe Creaney and Riya Mannu, both within three minutes of each other, turned the tie around to secure a valuable three points.
The opposition
Hosts Burnley remain top of the FAWNL Northern Premier heading into Sunday.
The Baggies’ full-time opponents beat Liverpool Feds 2-0 in their most recent league encounter, just four days after their 7-0 win over Loughborough Lightning.
Those two convincing third-tier victories coincided with the return of Women’s Team Coach Ross Wallace, who rejoined the club in February after the departure of Lou Roberts.
Former midfielder Wallace made 165 appearances for the Clarets during his playing career, and has since enjoyed a Turf Moor homecoming with the hopes of continuing their strong momentum at the top of the division.
Burnley have picked up 41 points from 15 match, and haven’t lost a game in the league so far, a record they’ll aim to continue under their new manager as they welcome Albion on Sunday.
Previous meetings
Albion Women 0-1 Burnley - October 2025
A Millie Ravening penalty after just 10 minutes was the difference between the two sides in a midweek league clash at the Alexander Stadium back in October.
Substitute Marli Rhodes got into plenty of dangerous areas to level the game late on, while Fran Orthodoxou forced goalkeeper Kirstie Levell into a save, but the Baggies suffered their first defeat at the Alex.
Albion Women 0-3 Burnley - March 2025
Two Burnley strikes in second half added time prevented Albion from orchestrating a late comeback at the Valley Stadium in March.
Naomi Hartley’s effort broke the deadlock for the visitors, but Aimee Kelly and Brenna McPartlan added some extra shine to the Clarets’ 3-0 win.
Burnley 1-0 Albion Women - September 2024
The Baggies were narrowly beaten on their last trip to Turf Moor.
Reanna Blades’ second-half goal was the difference between the two teams in Lancashire.
Venue
Home of the Clarets, Turf Moor, will host Sunday’s encounter.
The 21,944 capacity ground has seen plenty of Women’s team matches since its first in 2023, including one visit of Siobhan Hodgetts-Still’s Albion side.
Pre-match thoughts
Goalkeeper Charlotte Clarke showed everyone exactly what it takes to be Albion’s number one on Wednesday night.
From palming Ebony Wiseman’s effort around the post, to tipping Sofia Mallon’s curling strike onto the crossbar in the dying embers of their FAWNL Northern Premier tie - the Baggies shot-stopper was seemingly unbeatable throughout the second half.
Their victory over Rugby was Albion’s second positive performance against a team in the upper-echelons of the division in 2026, having beaten Wolves in the FAWNL Cup just a few weeks prior.
Those wins will prove vital as Hodgetts-Still’s side look to construct a blueprint to claim their first victory over the Clarets since 2021 - and according to goalkeeper Clarke, the Baggies can “compete with anyone” in the league if they keep their “confidence” high.
She said: “I think I did well (on Wednesday night). There’s always things to improve on it’s not nice for a goalkeeper to concede from a corner.
“We’ve been working really hard in training in the GK department to get better. We’ve been focusing on how Rugby liked to take their shots from distance, and felt we got the measure of them from that perspective.
“At half-time, we just went over the gameplan again and it was just reminding ourselves that if we stick to the basics, we’ll get what we want out of the game and we did. The overall performance from the girls after the first 10/15 minutes, was really good.
“We’re really happy to have beaten Rugby this time, we didn’t show our best against them in our last match, but we’ve clearly improved since then. Everyone’s very happy to have comeback to make sure they don’t do the double over us.
“Straight away Riya (Mannu)’s come in and made an impact on the team. We felt we were all on the same page again today, we all knew our jobs and the two goals were what we needed at that point in the game.
“The confidence going into Burnley is high after the way we finished the game. They’re a very good team, when we played them at the start of the season, we showed that we can compete with them and therefore the best in the league.
“We had chances at that game earlier in the season, but after today’s performance and scoring those goals in the second half, we know we can get them this time.
“We can compete against anyone as long as we play in the same way as we have against Rugby and Wolves.”
Ticket information
For any Baggies fans wishing to make the trip to Lancashire on Sunday afternoon, tickets are available to purchase both online or at the turnstiles.
Tickets are priced at £5 for adults and £1 for under-14s, should supporters prefer to buy online they can click HERE.
Seats are unreserved and situated in the Bob Lord Stand.
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.
