Kayley: “We are ready!”

As the ladies prepare for the first game of the season this weekend, manager Elle Kayley says she believes the spirit and new desires this team has will ensure they have a successful season.

“After what seems like a lifetime of waiting, the new season is finally upon us. The ladies have been looking forward to this fresh start for some time and we can’t wait to get into the thick of the action”.

Thank You

“Before we get started, we really need to admire the players and the committee behind the scenes at St Joseph’s, as they have worked extremely hard over the last few months to help establish the club and get us into a good healthy position to compete in this year’s Lancashire Women’s County League Championship Division. I would like to say a massive thank you to our sponsors and our family and friends for helping us raise the funds we needed to get the club up and running. We will do our best to ensure we represent you all well in each of our performances both on and off the pitch.

Also, a big thank you to our new social media team, who have helped massively in creating a platform for new players to find out about St Joseph’s Ladies and see what we are like as a club. A lot of hours have been put into the social media and the website, which has provided our club with consistent exposure to promote us. This has helped hugely with our recruitment of players this year and now, we officially have 26 players signed up. Thank you team for all your hard work!”

Pre-season

“Our pre-season saw us face many different oppositions from a variety of leagues and I must say, the ladies have rose to the challenge. We really must credit all the ladies throughout pre-season, they have all listened and learned from what we have been working on in training and it’s starting to show when we play. The competition for places this season is fierce and the coaching staff and myself will definitely have some tough choices to make however, we will ensure we do the best for the team in regards to our choices.

Hopefully throughout this season, the ladies can continue to learn and develop their skills in a positive environment. The team have worked tirelessly throughout pre-season and are ready to get started!

Well done ladies, let’s keep the hard work going!”

New Season

“We have all been eagerly anticipating the new season after what seems a lifetime wait. The ladies especially are just looking forward to being back on the pitch with each other and enjoying their football. Our club philosophy is we want all the ladies to enjoy playing the game, and above all if we help improve their confidence and ability along the way, that’s a bonus!

However, just because we want to enjoy our football, this doesn’t mean that we don’t want to be competitive! In every game we play our aim is to win, and I very much believe with the spirit and new desires this team has we will have a successful season. We need to remind ourselves the hard work starts now, and it’s going to be a crazy season given the global crisis we are also faced with. There are going to many different obstacles to face and the team needs to rise and adapt to the challenge, but anything is possible with this team.

I personally can’t wait to get started and I’m really looking forward to what this season has to offer. Hopefully we can hit the ground running on Sunday and that will set us up nicely for the rest of the season!”

The ladies first game is against Barrowford Celtic Ladies on Sunday 18th October at Accrington Academy, kick off 2pm.

Up the Joeys! #UTJ

Woodford: “Credit to the players for adapting new style of play”

The ladies took on Preston North End Ladies this weekend in another pre-season friendly, which saw them run out 2-0 winners. Coach Simon Woodford provides us with his post match thoughts on the game.

“Really pleased with the performance today. We stepped it up from last week and dominated the game from start to finish.

Our midfield three were superb and really dominated in the middle, and our passing patterns really stood out today. We kept a clean sheet which is good for the defensive unit and something for them to build on. We also worked on being positive in the opposition half by utilising training techniques we had worked on during the week and looked to play forward quickly, the players took that into today's game which is great to see and it worked really well.

We have changed the style of play this season which is demanding on the players, but they must take a huge amount of credit for adapting to this style of play and have been working hard and showing they want to learn and develop“.

Our next challenge now is to keep working hard, keep developing and keep the high standards the ladies have set themselves, every training session and every game. If they can do that the results will take care of themselves”.

Gabby Sabatino: "It's so nice to be back on the field"

After another successful weekend for the ladies winning 3-1 against Bury Ladies in a pre-season friendly, midfielder Gabby Sabatino says the work rate from the team was excellent and is excited for the season to begin.

"I think we played really well yesterday, it’s such a great feeling when the things you are working on in training are happening on game days and they are working so well for us. Our new pressing style of play is hard, especially yesterday with it being a warm day on a big pitch, but you can see us getting fitter as a team and pressing as a unit, it’s excellent to see the work rate from all the girls.

It’s so nice to be back on a field with all these girls, we’ve waited so long to get back to playing and I can’t explain how good it is to be enjoying our football as a team again. I’m excited for the season to start, whenever that is, and no matter what happens I know we will be enjoying being back together as a team".

The ladies take on Burnley Belvedere Ladies this weekend in another pre-season friendly. Kick off 2pm, Sunday 19th September at Prairie Sports Village.