Our men kicked off last Saturday and this week it is the turn of our women to start their league season when our first team play host to Newhaven in the London & South East Regional League. Our reserves will compete in the South East Counties League but their programme does not commence until the middle of September.
As announced recently, we have a new home venue for our first team at Chipstead FC and we will be kicking off there at 2:00pm on Sunday (18th) against newly promoted Newhaven. Chipstead FC is in High Road, Chipstead, close to the White Hart pub, and is about a mile and a half from the station. There are no convenient buses but the ground does have ample parking for cars and bikes. The bar will be open before and during matches and refreshments will be available.
We’re delighted to say that season tickets are available for our women’s team allowing entry to every women’s home league game this season. Prices are £25 for adults, £15 for concessions (over 60, students with valid ID) and £5 for ages 12-17. Under 12s are admitted free but must be accompanied by an adult. You can buy your season ticket here.
Matchday prices are £5, £3 and £1 respectively.
There have been a number of changes in our women’s set up on and off the pitch over the summer. Starting with our first team, manager Lucy Clark has brought in Anthony Rosenberg Murray as Assistant Manager, Chris Lines as coach and Andrew Nolan as physio. Of course, last May’s League Cup final was the farewell of Reserve Team Manager Courtney Bartlett and we now have joint managers in Ben White and Ian Bowerman. We have also restructured the set-up for our younger girls, with teams at all age groups still from Under-10 to Under-16 but now also with three teams in the Junior Premier League; U-13, U-14 and U-18. David Ajao, chair of the girls section, believes this will give greater opportunities for players to move along the pathway to first team football and perhaps follow in the footsteps of Lily Dent, who is now contracted to Brighton in the WSL.
On the playing front, we have recruited a number of new players as we seek to do well in what is becoming an increasingly competitive division. Beth Humphrey (Crawley Wasps), Maddison Dalrymple, Tessa Allen (Fulham), Zoe Walters and Maddie Heavingham-Ford have been recruited to cover defensive roles, alongside the returning Amber Hendra.
In midfield Lucy has brought in Hannah Baptiste (Bromley), K’Shaela Burch-Waldron (London City Lionesses) and Annie Thomas (Fulham).
Up front we have fought off tough competition to recruit striker Gaby Buddle-Smith (Bromley Academy), who has netted more than 130 goals over the last two seasons, and Jayda Palmer-Lockhart (Bromley). For full details of all our squad go to our team page www.suttonunited.net/womens-first-team/squad
Hot off the press we completed two more good signings this week, with the addition of former Fulham player Illana Harris-Walters from Haywards Heath, and also Harriet Martin, a dual registration with Beecholme Belles.
