News 26/07/22 - (B Davies, Fishlock, Gane, E Jones, Walters, Wynne)

 

An interesting article from BBC Sport about all the Wales players who will be at different clubs next season. Olivia Clark, Josie Green and Natasha Harding have all made permanent moves to new clubs, while Maria Francis-Jones has signed a duel registration and Carrie Jones has gone out on loan. Anna Filbey, Elise Hughes and Poppy Soper are still searching for the perfect club.

It’s great to see this article on BBC Sport – it shows that the increased amount of coverage of the women’s game isn’t restricting itself to the admittedly-brilliant England or the Euros.

Portsmouth forward Emma Jones came off the bench at half-time in a 3-2 home friendly victory over Brighton & Hove Albion. Emma almost immediately hit the crossbar, then scored Portsmouth’s second goal five minutes from time. This brought the score to 2-2, but Emma wasn’t finished, firing in a cross to set up team-mate Mia Adaway for the winner. 

Defender Evie Gane played the full match for Brighton and had an unfortunate involvement in Brighton’s second goal when the ball rebounded off her back, but it turned out not to matter in terms of the score. The match was watched by 2906 people as interest in the women’s game (not that it’s really a different game – it’s all football) continues to increase.

Jess Fishlock has been inspired by England’s performance at Euro 2022, as well as by Wales Men’s qualification for the World Cup, and believes it will help Wales Women make the extra push to qualify for their own World Cup. Jess also discusses Gareth Bale’s recent move to Los Angeles FC.

Forward Georgia Walters came off the bench forSheffield United on the hour mark, with her team 5-0 ahead at home to Bradford City. Georgia played an excellent past to set up Mia Enderby for the sixth goal, and Sheffield United didn’t exactly take it easy after that, with the match finishing 12-0 to the hosts. Bethan Davies was in goal for the Blades for the first half of the match and it really doesn’t sound like she had very much to do!

The Daily Echo assesses Southampton’s chances of promotion, with Megan Wynne named as one of the new signings who could help them achieve it.