Match Preview

Pride Park’s Ladies are back at Moorways on Sunday when Ashbourne are the visitors for a League Division 1 fixture.

Our opponents
Ashbourne reformed their Ladies team after an absence of four seasons from 2022/23, completing their inaugural season as Division 2 Champions and securing promotion. They play their home matches at Osmaston Polo Grounds, just outside Ashbourne. They normally play in blue and black striped shirts so a change of colours is anticipated for this game.

Facts and Stats
There haven’t been many meetings between the teams as they were in different Divisions for a time, and there was a period of four seasons when Ashbourne didn’t have a Ladies team until they reformed last season and secured promotion at the first attempt.

Although the form guide shows a series of losses to start the League season, it doesn’t tell the full story as most of these were narrow defeats, before Ashbourne secured their first win of the season last time out (26 Nov) with a resounding 6-2 win at Stanton Ilkeston.

Team News
Pride have been hit with a series of injuries leaving an increasingly small pool of fit players available for selection. This has, however, opened up opportunities for under 18s that have been doing well and two of these, Carys Allsop and Evie Payne, are in included in the 1st team matchday squad for the first time.

In Charge
The Referee for the game is Matt Merriman

How to watch
The game is at Moorways Sports Village, Moor Lane, DE24 9HY and kicks off at 1.30pm.
There is covered seating available for spectators in the grandstand and ample car parking. Refreshments are available from the cafeteria in the main Pool building just across the car park. Please note only officials and players are permitted beyond the railings/gate in front of the grandstand and dogs are not permitted on site.

The pitch has held up well so far this week but with heavy rain forecast overnight, there will be a preliminary inspection tomorrow afternoon.

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