Return Of FAWNL Football
For the majority of teams below the Championship and the WSL last weekend was County Cup football, with the previous weekend hit by snow / frozen pitches so, with the first full FAWNL weekend of 2025 upon us, it's time to have a catch up with where everyone stands in tiers 3 and 4 heading into the second half of the season.
Division One North (Tier 4)
Durham Cestria, and North East football fans in general, were dealt a huge blow back in September when Anna Soulsby suffered an ACL injury against Norton & Stockton Ancients just 7 weeks into the season. To illustrate just how good a start to the season Anna had, and how big a player she is for Cestria, to date nobody in the squad has scored more league goals, Soulsby and Daisy Clarke being on 6 goals each with Grace Collinson, Emily May Hutchinson and Erin Nicholson on 5.
20 year old forward Faye Dale, who left Cestria in January 2024 to sign for Boro, has now rejoined from Boro. In her previous spell with Cestria she scored 13 goals in 42 appearances. Just going off social media this appears to be a popular signing with Cestria fans. Faye's sister Eleanor Dale (Sunderland) is currently joint second top scorer in the Championship on 7 goals. Another incoming signing this month is Ashley Townsend who has moved from South Shields FC Women.
Currently sitting in 6th on 16 points after 12 matches, Cestria find themselves 12 points off the top with a game in hand but importantly are 6 points clear of the relegation zone with a 20 goal advantage over the current bottom two. 9th February is a home match against York City, currently 11th of 12, with the away fixture on 9th March. Six points from these two fixtures would go a long way towards keeping Cestria in tier 4.
23rd March sees Cestria travel to Middlesbrough for the last "El Lassico" of the season and they travel to AFC Fylde on 13th April for the penultimate match of the season. Fylde currently sit bottom of the league.
I predict the teams above them are slightly too strong for them to close the gap this season but there's enough talent in the squad to keep them in tier 4 for another season.
Middlesbrough currently sit in 4th on 24 points (W7 D3 L1), a point behind 3rd place Leeds United, two points behind Chorley and "only" 4 points behind league leaders Cheadle Town Stingers however due to the cup runs Boro have been on they have 2 games in hand, enough to take them top of the league and potentially into tier three.
Boro started the season with a 14 match undefeated streak in all competitions. keeping 8 clean sheets during that run and scoring 32. Their FA Cup and FAWNL Cup campaigns, respectively, were ended away to Newcastle United Women and home to Nottingham Forest Women in the last two matches of 2024. Both opponents are higher up the pyramid than Boro.
An impressive January transfer window has seen Boro bring in NUW winger Kacie Elson on a permanent deal and NUW forward Georgia "Gallowgate" Gibson on a loan until the end of the season. It was also announced this month that Becky Ferguson's loan from NUW has been extended until the end of the season.
Of the two new signings, Elson is a player that stood out for me from my first NUW match. A pacy winger who can't half hit a shot, after struggling for game time this season I think she'll flourish in a Boro side that has plenty of goals in it - 4 league goals for Leanna Giles and Lauren Robson, 3 for Millie Bell and Ellen Turnbull, 2 for Jessica Mett, always the possibility of Sharna Wilkinson appearing on a scoresheet. Both new signings know what it takes to win both this league and the league above it. 14 goals in all competitions for Elson on the way to winning Managers Player of the Season in NUW's 22/23 tier 4 promotion season, 19 goals in 27 appearances for Gibson.
Two huge matches coming up for Boro, away today to current league leaders Cheadle Town Stingers so an apportunity to close the gap to 1 point then home next weekend to current second place side Chorley. A 0-0 draw at Chorley in October was one of only two league matches this season where Boro haven't scored, the other a surprise 3-0 loss away to Doncaster Rovers Belles. Next match of note for Boro after Cheadle and Chorley being the Cestria match on 23rd March.
With the players they already have and the additions they've made, Boro are my favourites for the tier 4 title this season.
Northern Premier Division (Tier 3)
2 league goals in 8 appearances for Bridget Galloway this season (10 in 16 in all competitions) so certainly not a bad first season in Nottingham. Only 3 of her teammates have scored more in all competitions this season and Bridget is only 1 goal away from being tied 3rd top scorer for Forest this season.
Quiet transfer window so far but they do have Naomi Bedeau on the way back from injury which would be a huge boost going into the back end of the season.
No league match today for Forest as they travel to Hashatg United in the semi finals of the FAWNL Cup. One week in February could make or break their season with 3 league matches in 7 days at the City Ground - Liverpool Feds on Sunday 9th February, Rugby Borough on Thursday 13th and a huge match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday 16th. Shortly after, Forest travel to Burnley on 9th March which could more or less clinch promotion to the Championship for them.
I liked what I saw from Forest at Kingston Park a fortnight ago, I'm going to predict a FAWNL Cup / Northern Premier Division double for Carly Davies' side.
12 appearances out of a possible 15 in all competitions this season and 1 goal for on loan defender Daisy Burt at Derby County. Good experience for the youngster and from what I can tell Daisy is putting in some solid performances for Derby and growing in confidence.
A 5 match losing streak in September / October saw Derby drop down the league but a recovery towards the end of 2024 on the back of 2-4 away win to Hull City, 3-0 home win against Stourbridge and a 0-0 home draw with Sporting Khalsa saw Derby open an 8 point and 23 goal gap to the bottom two. That gap, I believe, is sufficient to see Derby County remain in tier 3 for another season.
Of Derby’s remaining 8 fixtures, only their last two matches are against teams currently below them but I still expect them to finish outside the bottom two.
Finally, nice to see former NUW forward Erin Nelson getting fairly regular football with Stoke City. 11 appearances out of a possible 20, not scored her first goal yet but has come close.
Not a bad season at all for Stoke, joint 3rd and 7 points behind leaders Forest. Not one of the bigger names in women’s football but they are a success story that has somewhat flown under the radar, finishing one place above the relegation zone the season before last on 24 points they improved to a 5th place finish last season on 34 points, I don’t think they’ll catch Forest this season but I wouldn’t rule out a top 3 finish and hitting the 40 point mark.
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