The Two Blues

        Photo from @BCFCWomen  Slightly difficult to write about this one as, due to the game kicking off at 4pm on a Saturday, it wasn’t able to be shown on the FA Player due to the blackout rule for football between 3-5pm. Add to that, me not being able to get a train home if I went to Sunderland. Sunderland were playing a ‘double-header’ at The Stadium of Light, with their men’s team kicking off at 12:30pm and the hope was that a lot of the fans from that game would stay for the women’s fixture. This didn’t quite go to plan, one to write about another day. To make things even more difficult, BBC Radio Newcastle had issues with the commentary being streamed, a men’s football podcast being played instead. Sure enough, once the men’s football finished, the commentary for the game became available- just in time for the second half.   The Blues were already 1-0 up by then, with what sounded, well, read, like an excellent goal from Harriet Scott in the final m...

      Photo by  Michael South Photography Another game under the lights for the Spireites, with league leaders Barnet the visitors this time. It felt a bit different having Friday night football at the Technique Stadium, but considering we have a game on Monday it made sense. With Barnet top of the table and Chesterfield not managing to hold on to their 2-0 lead last weekend, this looked like it would be a tough test for Town, on paper. One change for the Spireites with Covolan coming back from suspension to replace Fitzsimons in net. 3-1 was my prediction before the game... Seeing as we found ourselves 1-0 up within two minutes, we'll start with a goal! Horton put a great cross in from the left hand side which reached King who took a shot on goal, but the ball was blocked, resulting in a Spireites corner. As the corner came in, it was just taken away from Asante, but it fell to Banks on the edge of the area who fired it into the bottom corner. A fantastic start for ...

Louise Quinn, Lucy Quinn, Harriet Scott & Jamie Finn- Ireland Big Quinn, Little Quinn, Jamie Finn and Harriet Scott have all been called up to the Ireland squad for their upcoming World Cup Qualification fixtures against Finland and Slovakia. Ireland will be looking to secure a play-off spot for next year’s World Cup.  The Girls in Green are currently 2nd in their group, behind Sweden and one point above Finland who they face on 1st September at the Tallaght Stadium, KO 7pm. On 6th September, Ireland will face Slovakia away, KO 6pm. FAI TV usually show the games on YouTube. COYGIG!  Christie Murray- Scotland After making her debut in 2010 against New Zealand, Christie has earned 75 caps for Scotland, scoring 5 goals. Christie has been called up to the squad to face the Netherlands in a friendly on 2nd September before heading into their World Cup Qualifier against Faroe Islands on 6th September. Scotland have already qualified for the playoffs, but they will be looking to ...

Former Blues player Ellen White, White, White announced her retirement from football on Monday to the devastation of women's football fans in England and across the world. It was always going to come at some point, but we weren't ready. It does explain Ellen's reaction to winning the Euros though. There were tears of happiness, but it was noticeable that there was a tinge of sadness in some photos and it must have hit home that the final of the Euros was her last game. Ellen started her football journey at just 8 years old when she joined Arsenal. Her talent was clear as she made her way through the youth ranks, but her senior debut came for Chelsea when she was just 16 years old. Despite her youth, she was Chelsea's top scorer for all of the three seasons she spent there! In 2008, Ellen moved to Leeds Utd (Leeds Carnegie at the time) and spent two years there before moving back to her first club Arsenal in the summer of 2010. On her return to Arsenal, Ellen won every d...

  Photo credit:  Laura Burton Sunday saw Birmingham City Women's first game outside of the top flight since 2002. The first league fixture this season saw previous Blues manager Scott Booth and his team Lewes visit St Andrews. Despite last season's relegation, there was a buzz and optimism amongst Blues fans gathered at The Roost ahead of the game. The Birmingham City Women Supporters Group and AccessiBlues met up for drinks, sarnies and a good old natter about the Blues before heading to St Andrews. Fans coming together like this definitely adds to the excitement and anticipation of the game and we hope to welcome more fans for future home games. Also adding to the optimism was Blues' 1-0 win over Reading in their pre-season friendly the weekend before. A result which was giving fans, and surely players, confidence going into the first game of the season. Blues fans started in good voice as the players took to the pitch, including a solo effort from myself- thank you to al...

Photo  ©Tina Jenner After Tuesday’s fantastic performance against Wrexham, I was very optimistic for this game. Notts County are another team that will be challenging for promotion this season so any points from them will be vital in our bid for promotion. I could feel the atmosphere through the telly, 1,852 Town fans in good voice before kick off and it felt very much like another win was on the cards. Right?   The Spireites started off well with some good pieces of play and it didn’t take long for them to get the first goal. Williams played the ball forward from the back to Quigley who held the ball up well before pulling the ball back across the area to Asante. The ball was blocked by Brindley, only for it to find Mandeville running in. 'Mandy' took a touch on his left before producing a superb finish from a tight angle, across the keeper, with his right. Just 16 minutes gone and Chesterfield were 0-1 up. There were a few chances for both sides in the remaining half-hour of...

            Photo by  Michael South Photography Well, where do I start with this one?! After a 2-2 draw away at Dorking, which saw Ollie Banks play most of the game in goal, and a 1-0 win over Aldershot, I was still fairly nervous heading into this game. Of course, a 2-2 draw with 10 men and a midfielder in net for most of the game isn't the worst result in the world. Add to that a 1-0 win in blazing heat in a game where we could have had more, and things were looking fairly good for the Spireites. However, Wrexham are one of the sides that will be challenging us for that top spot to get out of this awful league. (It's my own blog, I can say it.) Considering this, a loss to them even this early in the season could have put a real spanner in the works for us in a league where you can't afford to lose points. What was I even worried about?!  The torrential rain didn't stop over 6,000 Spireites from heading to the ground and nearly 2,000 Wrexham fans...

                      Photo from @BCFCWomen  Birmingham City Women fans have had more experience of the Champions League than the Championship. However, despite giving their all throughout last season, the Blues found themselves relegated from the WSL, so what will life in the Championship entail? Well, it won’t be easy. Take Liverpool as an example. They were one of the founding teams of the WSL, along with Birmingham, and won the WSL in 2013 and 2014 (we don’t speak about 2014). However, they found themselves relegated in an unorthodox way in the 2019/20 season. The league followed the ‘points per game’ system following the first Covid lockdown meaning that Liverpool were relegated as the league wrapped up following a number of postponements. It took Liverpool a couple of seasons to make their way back to the WSL, meaning that the Championship is not an easy league. Bristol are also a team who experienced Champions League f...