FOOTBALL
Hastings Women Pipped to League Title
By Ben Cornwell
While the Hastings United men’s team have triumphed in their quest for promotion and a championship title, their female equivalents have come agonisingly short, despite an impressive campaign of their own.
The United women’s team, making their debut season in Division One South of the London & South East Regional Women’s Football League have won 13 of their 16 league matches, drawn two and lost just one (2-1 at home against third-placed Ashford), conceding only nine goals throughout. Their victories included a double over league leaders AFC Acorns, 5-2 and 4-2. But a win over Ashford last Sunday by the Crawley-based side ensured that it is they and not United who will finish top. Having completed their full fixture list they are seven points clear. Hastings, with two games still to play, can’t now catch them, having dropped two points in a 1-1 draw against Welling United on 10 April
Sian Heather in action for United Women
CREDIT: Scott White
United also reached the latter stages of the Sussex Challenge Cup but were beaten 4-2 at the Pilot Field in the semi-finals by eventual winners Brighton and Hove Albion U21s.
Following the resignation of head coach Amy Sinden in October 2020, managerial duties have been taken up by club CEO Billy Wood. He saw it initially as a temporary appointment but then decided to stay in the role and see out the season. He says that, while he and his staff have helped guide and support the squad, all plaudits should go to the players for delivering the results every week.
High(ish) five: Heather with Izzy Burt
CREDIT: Scott White
“It has been a very successful campaign”, he maintains. “We’ve pulled together a really competitive side, which has scored a lot of goals – 97 this season in all competitions. It is just very frustrating that, because only one team goes up, we could potentially have lost just one game all season but still get pipped to the title and miss out on promotion.”
Wood is very happy with the bigger picture, though. “I was told before I launched the women’s team at Pilot Field that girls don’t play football in Hastings”, he said. “Well, we’ve proven that wrong. We have over 100 girls playing football as it stands, with even more to be added next season. This is a massive step for our journey, and we hope that we will see some of the girls from our academy breaking into the first team in the future.”
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article. The future of our volunteer led, non-profit publication would be far more secure with the aid of a small donation. You can also support local journalism by becoming a friend of HIP. It only takes a minute and we would be very grateful.
Leave a Reply