Town Women kick off 2022 on Sunday 16 January 2022
- Town Women host Nottingham Forest in 2pm kick-off
- Potential for Mia Parry debut
- Terriers looking to start the year off strong
Following the postponement of their game against Hull City Ladies, Huddersfield Town Women will finally play their first match of the 2022 when they welcome Nottingham Forest on Sunday 16 January 2022.
Town will go into the game in fine form too, as they’re unbeaten in their last six matches in all competitions; a run that included an impressive back-to-back win in both the Vitality Women’s FA Cup and FAWNL Cup against Loughborough Lightning. This, however, will be Town’s first league match in around 60 days!
The last time the two sides met was on the opening weekend of the season, when they played out a goalless draw, which ultimately culminated Bethan Davies saving a penalty for town in the dying minutes. Our opponents would then go on a three-match winning streak throughout August before form became inconsistent throughout September, similar to Town.
Nottingham are also on an impressive unbeaten streak currently, one which contains a 4-0 win over high-flying Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup, setting them up a Women’s Super League tie against Manchester City. Forest sit one point ahead of Town in fourth, with both teams playing the same number of matches to date. This means a win for either side could see them climb to third in the table, dependant on other results.
There is also the chance that Town fans will get to see their new loan signing Mia Parry, after she completed her move from Blackburn Rovers last week. The young midfielder caught the eye of manager Glen Preston, who expressed his delight at her arrival.
“We’re delighted to bring in Mia from Blackburn for the rest of the season on loan, and we’re grateful to Blackburn for working with us to get this deal done quickly.”
Despite being at the Club for over two months, this will only be Preston’s second league game in charge of the Terriers. Preston looks ahead to what 2022 could look like for his team.
“We know we are hanging on by a thread to stay in the title race and so it’s going to be a tough ask for us to claw back a 6-9 points deficit in half a season - but we’ll never give up on that dream.
“In the Vitality Women’s FA Cup, the goal vs Everton will be to put in a performance Town fans can get behind and be proud of.
“In other competitions we’ll be putting ourselves under pressure to try and win them.
”We’re under no illusions about how big a task that is especially where there are some great sides still in the FAWNL Cup, but every person at this Club wants to win things and you can feel that hunger around the place, and so that’s the challenge we’ll set ourselves and see what happens.”
PLAYER TO WATCH
As top goalscorer currently this season, Brittany Sanderson will be looking to extend her season total of 13 goals. Scoring three goals in her previous three games shows that she has momentum in front of goal, one of these securing her December’s ‘Goal of the Month’ award.
Additionally, Town’s Laura Elford will be looking to score for the third game in a row after netting in both games against Loughborough and will want to start 2022 with a bang!
HOW TO WATCH
Town fans will be able to watch the Terriers play at the Stafflex Arena, Storthes Hall HD8 0WA with pay on the gate available. Tickets are £5 Adults, £3 Concessions and kids go free.
Kick-off is at 2pm on Sunday 16 January 2022.
Can’t make the game? As always, online coverage of the match will be available across all HTWFC channels including minute-by-minute updates on our Twitter - @HTAFCWomen - plus match build up on our Instagram. Highlights will also be released following the game for fans to catch up on the action.
Picture by Jess Hornby
