Oxford United Women may be one of the smaller names in the FA Women’s Super League for the forthcoming season, but captain Sahara Osborne-Ricketts admits few others will approach the season with as much confidence.
After winning their first ever treble – including the Southern Region Women’s Football League – last season, Oxford stormed their way to the South West Combination League last season at the first time of asking.
The U’s also proved their Cup credentials, reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup before they were eliminated by Everton in front of 1,000 people at the Kassam Stadium.
Sahara Osborne-Ricketts
- Born: 20 March 1991
- Position: Defender
- Previous clubs: Reading WFC, Arsenal LFC, Watford LFC
- Career highlight: "Playing for England in the Euro's, Making England debut and getting Player of the Match"
And while the margin of that 7-0 defeat suggests Oxford still have a long way to go before they can challenge the heavyweights of the Super League, Osborne-Ricketts admits confidence is high ahead of their FA WSL2 campaign.
“We won our league last season and had a good FA Cup run as well so that’s obviously given us confidence going into this new Super League,” she said.
“The opening game is going to be massive, we know London Bees are a good side and it will be a competitive game and in pre-season this is what we’ve been working towards so we are just excited to get going now.
“It’s going to be a really competitive league and we are just happy to be a part of it.
“We are going into every game looking to be competitive. It is a massive jump from where we were last season but we’ll just take it game by game and look to compete in every game.
“We are not going to go in saying we can win because we are not there yet but we’ll just try and finish as high as possible.
“We’ve got a lot of players who are good and the ball and have got a good passing range and we are looking to play football as much as we can. As a defender I look to play out from the back as much as I can and that’s the style I like to play anyway, so it suits me.”
“It's going to be a really competitive league and we are just happy to be a part of it”
Sahara Osborne-Ricketts
At 23 Osborne-Ricketts is in her first spell with her hometown club having previously played at Reading, Arsenal and Watford.
And while the centre-back knows her current club have ground to make up on the likes of Arsenal, there is nowhere else she would rather be.
“I had never played for my local team even though I’m from Oxford, so I just thought it was time to come home and play for my local team and help them out,” added Osborne-Ricketts.
“My time at Oxford has been all positive, they’re a great bunch of players and the backroom staff just want to help you as much as they can so it’s great.
“I love the responsibility of being captain, I’ve got a good bunch of girls I get along with all of them and I’ll do everything I can to help them.
“I’m quite relaxed, I get everyone to have a little dance, get the music blaring to chill everyone out and then on the pitch we have a little huddle where I just say a little speech to the girls and try and get them ready for the game.”
