Sheffield Wednesday Ladies handed massive boost with promotion news
Sheffield Wednesday Ladies have received huge news that they have been promoted to the North East Regional Football League Southern Division.
The Owlesses’ third place position in the SHWGL was enough for them to achieve a spot in the league that they were relegated from just one year ago - seeing them bounce back at the first opportunity.
Brunsmeer Athletic and Kiveton Park have also had confirmation of their promotion to the sixth tier, following their respective first and second place finishes respectively, along with both Leeds Modernians after their successful season in the West Riding League.
Though the goalscoring prowess of Amy Broomhead leading the line stole plenty of headlines, and saw her land top-scorer status, every player in the squad was pivotal to the success of the 23/24 season.
Kieron Lee’s side recruited heavily in the summer to prepare for the drop in division to give themselves the best chance of returning with the likes of Renée Simmonite-Scott, Aleks Fox and Kirsty Tonner playing their part. The latter of which proved to be a safe pair of hands in-between the sticks for Wednesday this campaign, something that was certainly highlighted in her brilliant performance away to Rotherham at the New York Stadium in front of a 1,000+ crowd.
The mid-season signings of Romy Lee and Olivia Mellor also proved to be massive for Wednesday in continuing their upwards trajectory, in particular with the necessity of filling the gaps left by injury in defence.
Simmonite-Scott proved pivotal at times in the centre of the park, popping up when needed, most notably scoring the late winner at home to Handsworth as well as a well-taken brace against Kiveton to lead the Owlesses into the SHWGL semi-final. Her double-digit scoring tally in the league was crucial, alongside Heidi O’Reilly who was one strike away from that same fate.
Speaking to Lee, he said: “It’s a fantastic achievement to win promotion back to the North East Regional Football League Southern Division. We now have a lot of work to get through in pre-season as we prepare for the next challenge.”
Lee will have further opportunity to add to his ranks in the off-season, with many players expressing their interest to join up for the 24/25 campaign. Whatever happens, a big summer awaits with Wednesday hopefully looking to add players to help consolidate their position in what is a tricky division - but for now they have a promotion to celebrate.