After seeing off Leicester City Ladies to reach the First Round of the Vitality Women's FA Cup, Belles make the trip over the Pennines this Sunday to face AFC Fylde in the First Round of the FAWNL Plate.
AFC Fylde was originally formed as 'Duke of York' in 1971, as a founder member of the North-West Women's league. The club was renamed 'Preston Rangers W.F.C.' in 1977 and reached the semi finals of the Women's FA Cup in 1982–83 and 1989–90.
In 1997, the club was officially affiliated with Preston North End F.C. and as 'Preston North End Women' was promoted into the FA Women's Premier League Northern Division in 2006. The club was rebranded 'Fylde Ladies F.C.' in 2016 after switching its affiliation from Preston North End to AFC Fylde, and changed again to 'AFC Fylde Women' from the start of the 2019–20 season.
The Coasters currently sit sixth in the FAWNL Northern Premier (3rd Tier) on eleven points, with two wins, five draws and two defeats. They recently lost to Derby County 2-1 in the FAWNL League Cup and drew 2-2 with Loughborough Lightning at home in the league last weekend.
Belles are unbeaten in three, scoring ten goals and conceding two, and are second in FA WNL Division 1 Midlands (4th Tier) with two games in hand on the leaders. The last time the two sides met was in the Northern Premier in the 2018-19 season, with AFC Fylde winning both league games - the first a 4-0 win in Lancashire and the return at Rossington a 3-2 thriller in which The Coasters scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute.
Belles manager Nick Buxton said: "It will be a good test for the squad as that’s the level where we want to get to. It will be a hard game and it will be a totally different game to the Leicester game but one we are looking forward to”.
Venue: Kellamergh Park, Bryning Ln, Preston PR4 1TN, UK
KO: 2pm
Half price tickets (£2.50 adult / £1 U16s) available online until 12 noon on matchday at:
AFC Fylde Women v Doncaster Rovers Belles | AFC Fylde Women
After 12 noon price on the turnstiles is £5 Adults, £2 U16s.