Season Preview 2009

After a difficult pre-season campaign the Coventry City Ladies will be glad to get down to business in the Midland Women's Combination League. In their first three matches the Sky Blues played opponents from the Northern Premier and failed to score, whilst shipping 14 goals. Manager Paul Cudby will be hoping that league newcomers, the Loughborough Foxes, will prove a far more straight forward challenge as his squad kick off the season at home to the East Midlands Premier Division Champions on Sunday the 6 th of September.

Coventry 's second fixture sees the Sky Blues travel to Tipton to take on West Bromwich Albion, now known as Sporting Club Albion. The fixture will give Cudby a great indication of how far his side have progressed from last season as Albion have already been installed as firm favourites for promotion. The rest of September will see a visit from a Crewe Alexandra side, who narrowly avoided a second successive relegation, and a Leicester City side that bounced back well in 2009 after a dreadful start to their campaign in 2008.

October should prove a testing month with three tough matches in the space of a week. A trip to Rotherham United, the club that edged the Sky Blues to promotion in 2007, on the 11 th is followed by the Coventry derby versus Copsewood just three days later. Wolverhampton Wanderers, who blitzed the Sky Blues with four first half goals in their most recent meeting, will be waiting to host Coventry on the 18 th . Worse awaits the Sky Blues with February's run in as they look to snap a streak of three consecutive second place finishes and secure promotion to the Premier League. City will have to negotiate away games at Copsewood, Stoke City and finally T.N.S.

Cudby remained philosophical about the challenge, “The run in, finishing with three away games, is not easy, but I don't believe that there'll be any easy games this season. Last year the league was very competitive with all the teams capable of taking points off each other and I'm expecting exactly the same this season too. Our first focus will be Loughborough, who won't be easy themselves having just been promoted, they'll be used to winning, we'll have to work very hard to make sure we start our campaign well".