Aston Villa Ladies will be challenging the top three of the Women’s Super League’s second tier next season, according to general manager Martin Harrison.
The Lady Villans may be young in years but they are fresh from their first taste of success, having clinched The FA Women’s Premier League Cup last season.
Yet the WSL 2 is unknown territory for the club and with the likes of Sunderland Ladies, Doncaster Rovers Belles and Watford in their division – all winners in their own right – the challenge is about to get tougher.
Aston Villa Ladies
Founded: 1983 (Previously Solihuill FC and Villa Aztecs)
Home: Trevor Brown Memorial Ground
General Manager: Martin Harrison
Joined FA WSL: 2014
However, Harrison is expecting his young guns to rise to the occasion and fight for promotion at the first time of asking.
“Our aims and ambitions are that we want to be challenging, really," he said.
"Realistically we want to be in the top three and it will probably be between ourselves, Sunderland, Watford and Donny.
“The national division was a competitive one last year and there were a number of teams able to get results against each other, and now with Doncaster coming down it’s only going to strengthen.
“Sunderland have won national divisions too, so it’s going to be very strong.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how the likes of Yeovil and Millwall are going to rise to the challenge too.
“From our point of view, the players had a lot of experience and soon they’ll be some of the better players in the country.
“So now there’s less of a feeling as a youngster that they shouldn’t be here at this level. They won’t be as overawed.
“We would like to think a lot of girls that have come through our programme have developed massively over the last few years.
“They’ve gained international recognition with us so from a loyalty point of view, they will be happy.”
Such is the confidence in the Villa’s current crop of players, there has not been a raft of new arrivals at the club.
Emily Owen and Natasha Baptiste were signed from West Brom while Lauren Walker and Hannah Williams joined from Wolves – all four arriving back in August.
And with a few tweaks here and there, Harrison is confident his side can cope with the demands of their maiden WSL season.
“We haven’t gone out of our way to bring in too many new players, but a few to enhance what we already have such as Emily Owen, two 20-year-olds from West Bromwich Albion who have a lot of potential,” added Harrison.
“Some of our girls have gone away on international duty and that extra experience is only going to take us forward and drive other players on too.”
