The Lady Imps are in action this weekend in the FA Cup as they travel to face West Brom in a tough tie.
It’s always West Brom, isn’t it? Our youth team got them in the FA Youth Cup last year and we grabbed their Under 23 manager as well. You just know at some point next season we’re going to draw them in senior action, it’s how it works!
Anyway, until then we’re getting right behind the ladies with a Stacey West first. It’s been tough for us to get to games, but this weekend we’ve got a correspondent at the match! Birmingham-based Imps’ fan Nick Proctor is going along and is going to cover the game.
West Brom play in the Premier League Northern Division which is effectively the third division of women’s football, but split into North and South. However, it’s worth considering that the top two divisions have just 23 teams in them in total, making West Brom one of the top 40 (ish) in the country.
Last year the Baggies won the Division One Midlands, the level Lincoln are at now, so it promises to be a huge test for the girls.
“They won our league quite comfortably last season. They won every game, barring the last one against Wolves, but we gave a really good account of ourselves against them at home,” manager Richard Cooper told Lincolnshire Live.
“We should have got a draw against them at Nettleham [the Imps’ former home], but lost 2-1. When we went to their place later on in the season we got absolutely annihilated. We tried a different system to try and counteract where they were very strong. It didn’t work and we lost quite heavily.
“We played them earlier this season in the League Plate and there was not a lot in that game. It’s always been a difficult game against them, but I would say we’re closer to matching them than we’ve ever been.”
The Imps made the second round courtesy of a 2-1 win against Leek Town earlier in November, with goals from Ami Blinkhorn and Abbie Murrell.
Without a senior game to follow over the last couple of weeks, it might be that Imps’ fans fancy a trip over to cheer on the red and white, so if you do we’ve got the information you need. The game is played at Walsall Wood FC (WS9 9NP) and costs £5 for Adults, £1 for concessions, kicking off at 1pm on Sunday. This is a big tie for the girls and a huge test of their skills.