SSFC Women ready for Bradford trip

Bradford City AFC are the next test for Matt Gatiss’ lasses as South Shields Women travel to the Horsfall Community Stadium this Sunday (2pm kick-off).

A return to league action sees the Mariners get in the swing of things following their 3-0 County Cup win against Spennymoor Town.

And the hosts themselves come into the game full of confidence after trouncing Hartlepool United 7-0 in their last league fixture.

Sunday’s challenge should offer supporters the chance to see two strong sides in action - Bradford sit fourth in the NERWFL Premier Division while Shields find themselves second.

The Bantams were relegated from tier four at the end of the last season after finishing second-from-bottom in a highly competitive league including the likes of regional neighbours Durham Cestria, Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.

Matt’s thoughts

“We play our way now, we don’t adapt to the team - we make the other team adapt to us,” head coach Gatiss said.

“Keeping the ball, playing the ball on the ground as much as we can. It’s on a really nice surface at their ground so we’ll be facilitating that.

“But really strong resilience: we’ve got some players away; we’ve got a couple of long-term injuries now with Meg (Archbold) and Eve (Gatens) which are really unfortunate.

“We’ve got a big squad to trust that, so every single player out there knows how we play, and they’ll implement that, so I’ve got no doubts that we’ll do our thing and hopefully bring home three points.”

Information for supporters

Kick-off at the Horsfall Community Stadium (BD6 2NG) on Sunday, October 22nd is at 2pm.

Adult entry costs £5 while under-16s get free entry, and the gates will open at 1pm.

We would, as ever, appreciate any support you can offer whether that’s in West Yorkshire in person or online through our social media channels.