A huge season awaits Chesterfield Ladies FC as their bid to win the East Midlands Women's Premier Division title and secure promotion begins on Sunday. Mike Noon's side's opening day fixture is a home league match against Oughtibridge War Memorial Women.
After finishing in an impressive second position last season, there's no question that the aim for this campaign is to go one better and win the league title. A promotion would see Chesterfield Ladies move into the fourth tier of the English women's football pyramid.
While Mike Noon's side are certainly one of the favourites to win the league title, securing promotion will definitely be a lot easier said than done. With only nine teams competing in the East Midlands Women's Premier Division for the 2022/23 campaign, the Derbyshire outfit can't afford to have a slow start and will need to hit the ground running.
The other teams competing in the East Midlands Women's Premier Division are as follows: Anstey Nomads Women, Arnold Eagles Women, Basford United Ladies, Lincoln United Women, Mansfield Town Ladies, Notts County Women, Oughtibridge War Memorial Women and Rotherham United Women.
With Northampton Town Women out of the picture following their dominant league title victory last season, teams like Lincoln United Women and Mansfield Town Women will certainly also fancy their chances of securing promotion this time around. Like last season, only one promotion spot is available and only last place will mean relegation to the sixth tier. With such fine lines, Mike Noon's side will need to avoid any major blips if this season is to end with a league trophy with only 48 points to play for throughout the whole campaign.
The retention of key players in all departments over the summer is one of the main reasons why Mike Noon's side should be considered one of the title favourites for the 2022/23 campaign. Between the sticks, Nicolle Watson remains as the club's goalkeeper. Elsewhere, the likes of Eleanor Abercrombie, Amy Pashley, Steph Warren, Kel Fidler, Beth Smyth, Millie Standen, Gina Camfield and Georgina Williams have all remained with the Derbyshire outfit for this new season. In fact, the only player to have departed from last season is club legend Sammy Stokes which was due to retirement.
In terms of additions, gaffer Mike Noon has made two signings since the end of last season to add some depth to the squad. Firstly, Louisa Anderson has joined Chesterfield Ladies from Sporting Khalsa Women who play in the tier above. Noon describes Anderson as an experienced centre-back who is a good player that will add strength to the defence and is a good leader on and off the pitch. Joining Anderson is Shannon Purdy who has arrived from local rivals Mansfield Town Ladies. At the time of the signing announcement, Noon said that Purdy is an energetic attacking midfielder who will add more depth to the midfield and will contribute with goals. In terms of pre-season friendlies, Mike Noon's side started with some tough tests but ended the pre-season campaign encouragingly. Their first two games ended as 5-0 defeats to Sheffield United Women's Development side and Solihull Moors Women respectively. However, Chesterfield Ladies won all three of their friendlies that followed these heavy defeats. An impressive 4-2 victory at home against Ossett United Women registered their first pre-season win ahead of the 2022/23 season. Mike Noon's side then absolutely trounced Teversal Ladies 14-0 away from home before concluding their pre-season schedule with a pleasing 4-0 victory at home against Lincoln City Women U23. Of course, there's not just the East Midlands Women's Premier Division to play for. Chesterfield Ladies FC will also fancy their chances of winning both the East Midlands Women's League Cup and the returning Derbyshire Women's Senior Cup. Mike Noon's side will also be hoping to break some club records in the Women's FA Cup and earn a lucrative tie against higher-level opposition. My hunch is that the 2022/23 season will be a very close contest between Chesterfield Ladies and Lincoln United Women for the league title. Matches between these two rivals tend to be very close affairs and the league title could well be determined by who gets the better out of their head-to-head affairs. As long as Chesterfield Ladies can hit the ground running and win their first game against a team that should finish in the top four, then I'm very confident that Chesterfield Ladies FC can win the league title and secure automatic promotion. The team have won several promotions in the time that Mike Noon has been the club's manager and enormous progress has been made up the Women's football pyramid. A promotion to the fourth tier though would certainly be the club's most impressive and significant one yet. It was recently announced that the club's permanent home venue for this new season will be the Chesterfield Panthers Rugby Club ground at Dunston Road. It will be really interesting to see if attendances rise at this level of the women's game following the Lionesses' incredible success over the summer. A great 2022/23 campaign for Chesterfield Ladies FC following the country's recent major international trophy could well be hugely significant in raising the profile of women's football in the town, increasing local coverage and inspiring the town's next generation of female footballers.
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