The Competition
County Cups are knockout competitions organised and administered by the County FAs. The County Cup is open to affiliated members of the County FA. Consequently, it pitches teams from different Tiers of the football pyramid and from different leagues against each other. There are various County Cup competitions - seven competitions catering for different levels of the men’s game in Derbyshire, and the two Women’s competitions; the County Cup and the County Plate - with teams eliminated from the County Cup at the early stages participating in the County Plate.

Our opponents
Long Eaton United are in the East Midlands Regional League Premier Division, which is Tier 5 of the Women’s Football Pyramid. Prior to this season the Blues had spent several seasons in the FA Women’s National League Midlands Division (Tier 4) - 3 tiers above The Pride who play in the 7th Tier Derbyshire Ladies League.

Facts and Stats
Although The Pride have made it to the semi-final of the County Cup on three occasions, in 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2019-20, this will be our first appearance in a County Cup or Plate Final.

The teams have met on three previous occasions, each being in the Derbyshire FA Women’s County Cup. In The Pride’s first season as an open age team, the teams met in the County Cup semi-final (we believe Pride became the first County League Division 2 side, and possibly the only one so far, to reach that stage of the competition) in 2014-15, with two late goals sealing a 3-1 win for Long Eaton. The teams also met in the County Cup in 2016-17 and 2017-18.

After overcoming Gresley Rovers 9-0 in the 2nd Round and Buxton Women in the quarter-final, Long Eaton United Women booked their spot in the final with a 5-0 win over Shirebrook Rangers at Grange Park with goals from Aimee Bluff, Elizabeth Mullarkey and a hat-trick from Sommer Smith.

Pride overcame Stanton Ilkeston and Sleetmoor Utd before beating Woodlands 6-1 in the semi-final.

In Charge
The match officials for the game are Refree Rhys Watkinson, the Assistant Referees are Nick Lees and Owen Robinson, and the fourth official is Daniel Middleton.

How to watch
The game is at Long Eaton United’s Grange Park stadium and kicks off at 11.00 am. Admission is by payment at the gate: £5 (adults) and £3 (concessions). There is covered seating available for spectators in the grandstand and car parking adjacent to the ground.

The teams will be accompanied out on to the pitch by player escorts from Pride Park’s Wildcats, under 8 Diamonds and u9 Pumas teams.

Pride go into this game as underdogs so it would be great to see a sizeable contingent from the club at the game to show their support!

Can’t watch?
You can follow the game for goal updates on our website at prideparkfc.com, on Facebook and also on ‚X’ (formerly Twitter) @PridePark_FC, where there may also be a „minute-by-minute” commentary.

Match Highlights
Highlights of the match will appear online during the week following the game at prideparkfc.com