With less than a week away before the 25/26 season starts for us, we look at our preseason preparation and the early part of our upcoming season. We’ve added a few new faces to the squad and seen a few old faces leave but there is a large contingent of last year’s squad that have stayed and hopefully that years’ experience together, will bode well for the future.

We tested ourselves in pre-season with four friendlies and would like to thank Bognor Regis, Frimley Green, Sherborne and Bursledon for some great games.

As well as some good preseason performances and adding to our fitness levels, perhaps the best thing to come out of it was the attitude and the character of the players. There was a positivity and a camaraderie there, which was not always prevalent last season. Players that were content to take a supporting role last season, seem to be stepping up to take some more responsibility this year. All in all, no-one should get carried away but when you compare this year’s preparations to last year, it’s hard not to be positive for this upcoming season.

So; what does the first month of this new season, in a new league bring for us?

We begin our campaign this Sunday with an away trip to Fleet Town, who are also new to this league after clinching the Division 1 South title in their final game, last season. We can expect a very tough game against a team that finished top of the pile in a very competitive league last year.

Our first home game is against Oxford City. They were very competitive in this league last year finishing 4th and look to be a free flowing team, who know where the net is, with only last year’s Champions Ascot, scoring more goals than the 65 goals that Oxford managed.

Our last league game in September is another home game, this time against Woodley United. They finished 6th in this league last year and had some great results in what looks on paper like a rollercoaster season. They had some great results, beating Winchester in the league and Oxford in the FA Cup and although they lost out in some of the games with the top 3, they had 2 very close games with Porchester (0-2 and 1-2) and a close game with last year’s runners up Wycombe (1-3).

With no fixture on the 28th (as of this moment), our last fixture of September, sees us enter the FA Cup on Sunday 21st. The draw for this round has not been made at this time but we look forward to playing in such a prestigious competition, whether it be home or away. Having lifted the F.A. Cup 8 times in our history, it will always have a special place in our hearts and although we might not be able to match the achievements of our ladies from the 70’s and 80’s, it won’t be through a lack of trying.

Up the Sirens!