Sunday 4 December 2022 2pm – The Barclays Women’s Championship – The Dripping Pan
Welcome to The Dripping Pan for today’s Barclays Women’s Championship game against Crystal Palace. Here is your complimentary e-programme
JOIN THE TEAM
NOTES FROM THE CHAIR
Good afternoon and welcome to The Dripping Pan for this afternoon’s Barclays Women’s Championship game against Crystal Palace. I’d like to welcome our guests from South London and hope their journey here and back is stress-free.
It has been awhile since we have been here, after the game against Bristol City fell foul to the weather. However, since then we have gone on a fantastic run, including two wins out of two in the League Cup which gives us the opportunity to progress to the quarter finals for the first time in our history. That included an excellent 4-1 win last week at Crystal Palace where we probably put in one of the best first half performances we’ve seen in our history.
The belief in the squad and management is incredibly high – we’ve lost just once this season in all competitions in ten games and that was to an injury time effort away at Durham. Such a team spirit isn’t built overnight so Scott and his team deserve huge credit for what they have done in such a short period of time.
There’s been a fair bit of action around the Pan since we were last here. We’ve launched our new club shop (store.lewesfc.com) with our new video collaboration with Lyle & Scott promoting that, and have a number of exclusive gifts on sale in the ground today.
Come on you Rooks!
Stuart
FROM THE DUGOUT WITH SCOTT BOOTH
It feels like a real long time since we played. I know the players are itching to get back into it, the players obviously love football, but they love playing football matches more than anything else, and to get back into this weekend with an FA cup game which adds a little bit of interest as well is really exciting.
I know we have a little pile up starting on the league games, but I’ve never been involved in a FA cup before, so I’m looking forward to hopefully getting a good run in during the competition. The most important thing for the players right now is to win games, we want to win and build momentum, and hopefully we win and go through to the next round.
Our loss against Palace was a long time ago now, and at the time, kind of didn’t feel like a loss. We felt like we played really well in that game and deserved something out of the game, if not taken the whole 3 points for that game.
We know that we can play and win games, so that’s the good thing about this squad where they have gone through that experience at the start of the season, with the number of draws we had at the start, and then we got the wins and became hard to beat, I think that gives us a lot to build on and try and do what we are trying to do now in January which is build some momentum back up.
We expect a tough game and a game that will be really competitive. London Bee’s will obviously see this as an opportunity to get through from their own point of view. We’ve planned as much as we can during this shorter time frame, and the players know the side we are playing against and we have a plan in place to hopefully get through to the next round.
We are working really hard in the background to try and strengthen the squad and bring in maybe one or two, if we are lucky three players just to build the squad a bit.
We have picked up a number of a few injuries lately, we have a couple of players that are not at their best in terms of their health and we have a couple of illnesses which the players are coming back from. We are not at full strength, but I think it is important that we have that opportunity to bring some new players in to help the rest of the team.
AROUND THE PAN
We are delighted to dedicate today’s game to Momentum Children’s Charity supported by Amber-Keegan Stobbs who is a sports buddy for the charity.
Momentum support families across SW London, Surrey and Sussex whose children are facing cancer or a life-challenging condition. They are there whatever the outcome, as long as needed, so that no family has to cope alone.
Very passionate about the charity, Amber spoke to us about her involvement with Momentum.
“I first heard about the charity and got involved having volunteered during lock down where we’d send videos to kids about what we are doing during lockdown to keep busy and have fun.
“Then last year my teammate and her family faced the unimaginable news as her 3 year old brother Theo was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. As a friend of the family I have seen first hand how much Momentum helps and supports.
“My best friend Lenny and her family are truly amazing and I can’t believe what they are going through. The sad reality is there are so many families experiencing this. There is not enough awareness, help, funding or research for childhood cancer and we need to do more.
“Theo the Hero is truly amazing, he goes through it all with the best spirit and he’s an inspiration to us all, he’s such a smart, brilliant and beautiful boy!
“When this opportunity to become a volunteer as a Sports Buddy came up it was something I could not turn down, for Theo and for every kid with him. I am so happy and lucky to be involved; I’ve been paired up with two families and my little sports buddies Jack and Thalia (and her brother Tristan) who will be joining us this weekend, they’ll walk out with me as mascots.
“We’ve had some facetimes and regular contact as part of the program and everytime I’m blown away by their brilliance.
“It’ll be the first time I’m meeting Jack and Thalia in person and I’m so excited! I hope we can have an amazing day at The Pan for them, their families and Momentum, raising both awareness and funds will mean so much to all of us!”
Speaking of today’s game, Nina Gopal, from Momentum, said: “This date falls right in the middle of our Christmas appeal and the donations we receive until noon on Tuesday 6 December can be matched funded pound for pound.
“Our Magic Moments Christmas campaign will offer children who are unable to visit Santa due to their illness, to have a special visit from Santa at their home. In addition it will make sure that families are supported over the Christmas period in hospitals and at home by our Family Support workers.
“We are delighted to be providing t-shirts for the warm up – what a fantastic photo opportunity!
“Thank you so much Lewes for your support.”
DEALING WITH THE SOCIAL MEDIA TROLLS THE LEWES & CURVE WAY
INTRODUCING OUR VISITORS FROM CRYSTAL PALACE
THE HISTORY
The club was formed in 1992 as Crystal Palace Ladies F.C.. Since 2003, the club has risen up England’s football pyramid, winning the South East Combination Women’s Football League in 2003–04, and later achieved their first cup success beating Chelsea in the Surrey FA County Cup Final in 2011. Palace reached the FA Women’s Premier League in 2013–14. The club won the Division One title in 2015–16 after going the whole season undefeated and also won the Surrey FA County Cup that same season beating AFC Wimbledon in the final.
In 2018, The Guardian newspaper claimed that the Crystal Palace Ladies reserve team players were told “they face not being able to represent the club any longer if they cannot each raise £250 in sponsorship, or put up the money themselves”, though the club reported this as “inaccurate.” The Crystal Palace F.C. men’s star first team player Wilfried Zaha, who had just signed a new contract made “a substantial financial contribution” to help subsidise the club’s female section. The club issued a statement: “Everyone knows what Crystal Palace means to Wilf and he wants to give the same opportunities to the next generation of aspiring players at Palace Ladies that he enjoyed when coming up through junior teams.”
In 2019, the women’s team was featured in Harry’s Heroes: The Full English, a television documentary shown on ITV. They lost 1–0 to a team of male former professional footballers.
On 10 June 2019, the club announced it would play as “Crystal Palace FC” instead of “Crystal Palace Ladies F.C.” following the growing trend within the women’s game to move away from the term “Ladies”.
THE SQUAD
THE CURRENT FORM
THE LAST MEETINGS
| 27 Nov 2022 | League Cup | Crystal Palace | 1 | Lewes | 4 |
| 13 March 2022 | Championship | Lewes | 2 | Crystal Palace | 0 |
| 30 Jan 2022 | Championship | Crystal Palace | 3 | Lewes | 1 |
| 14 Oct 2021 | League Cup | Lewes | 1 | Crystal Palace | 1 |
| 2 May 2021 | Championship | Crystal Palace | 2 | Lewes | 1 |
CRYSTAL PALACE 1 LEWES 4 – SUNDAY 27 NOV
Emma Thompson made the most of her chance in the starting XI, scoring two early goals which inspired the Rooks to a 4-1 away win over Crystal Palace in the FA Continental Tyres League Cup.
The win puts Lewes top of Group D and in a very good position to qualify for the next round with just Bristol City to play at home on Friday 18 December.
Scott Booth’s side started on the front foot taking control of possession and Palace were stunned by an early goal in the sixth minute. Some great work by Paula Howells sent Charlyann Pizzarello down the wing and the Gibraltarian international put in a wonderful cross for Thompson who tapped home.
Just 12-minutes later it was two and it was Thompson again, following a blocked shot, the Chelsea loanee slotted home with a low left-footed strike from the centre of the box.
Palace were rattled and came bursting forward just a few minutes later looking for an instant reply. They almost had it as well striking the post from close-range. The Rooks countered with Amelia Hazard bursting forward, and cuts it across the box only for Kirsten Reilly to turn it into her own net.
Three goals to the good inside 25-minutes and Lewes looked like scoring every time we came forward. Then shortly before half-time, Barclays Women’s Championship Player of the Month nominee, Emily Kraft, continued her fine form, cutting inside two defenders and hitting a wonderful left-footed effort from outside of the box into the bottom corner for possibly the goal of the game.
Midway through what was a much quieter second-half, Amber-Keegan Stobbs did really well in the midfield playing in Emma Thompson for her hat-trick but the young forward struck the crossbar.
Palace defender much better in the second-half with the Rooks struggling to create too much more. The home side then found a late consolation with Molly-May Sharp capitalising on a mix up at the back and made it 4-1.
Scott Booth’s thoughts
“Delighted with the performance, I thought they were very good in the first-half. The second they did what they had to do to make it difficult for a good side in Crystal Palace.
“Emily [Moore] wasn’t troubled too much, we expected them to be a bit more direct in the second-half which they were, and we were caught out with one at the end. But in general we defended well, put our bodies on the line and connected as a group.
“The most pleasing aspect is that we were very clinical in the first-half. With a little bit of luck it could have been more.
“It’s a position we haven’t been in, 4-0 up at half-time so it was a learning experience for the players to handle those types of games.”
Scott was also full of praise for Emma Thompson and her two goals.
“Emma has worked really hard to fire her way into contention, which she has always been in but she’s worked on different aspects of her game that she showed tonight.
“You can see that she has been working hard on those different things that have made her look like a more rounded striker, and her all round play today was very, very good.”
Similarly, he spoke of others who took their chance to impress including Pizzarello.
“Charly has a great left-foot and she put the ball into a perfect area for Emma to score. A one touch finish in the box is always nice to see.
“I think everyone took their chance tonight, we were very clinical and it made it a very enjoyable watch.
“It’s always difficult to play a team twice in a week which we are doing with Palace. It’s always tough to know whether it will be a similar game or whether it will be different.
“For us it means we can look at aspects of the game, do our analysis and ensure that the things we did well, we do well again. Palace are a physical team which I think we matched them on and we will need to do again.”
JAMES BOYES GALLERY
THE 2022/23 BARCLAYS WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
YOUR 2022/23 LEWES SQUAD
| Squad No. | Name | Sponsored By |
| 1 | Sophie Whitehouse | Nathan Smith |
| 2 | Ellie Mason | Scott Currie2 |
| 3 | Rhian Cleverly | The Happiness Index |
| 4 | Amelia Hazard | Dawn Harding |
| 6 | Ellie Hack | Little Stars Childcare |
| 7 | Nat Johnson | Alice, Tom & Russ Mould |
| 8 | Grace Palmer | |
| 9 | Emily Kraft | Michael Wirtz |
| 10 | Amber Keegan Stobbs | Bill Lynch |
| 11 | Emma Thompson | Mark Comford |
| 12 | Charlyann Pizzarello | |
| 14 | Paula Howells | Bruce Taylor |
| 17 | Zoe Smith | |
| 18 | Rebecca McKenna | Leschenault Press & The Book Reality Experience |
| 19 | Lauren Heria | Alex Lambeth |
| 20 | Libby Copus-Brown | Joe Short |
| 22 | Josie Longhurst | Martin Scott |
| 23 | Izzy Dalton | Leschenault Press & The Book Reality Experience |
| 26 | Emily Moore | |
| 31 | Laura Hartley | Michael Scoates |
| 32 | Frankie Angel |
“More exposure means more ability for us to make change.” – Willa Bailey
One of our three incoming directors, Willa Bailey, has spoken for the first time since winning the elections in October.
Willa is just 23-years-old and is excited to bring more diversity into the board, believing her young and fresh energy will help remove the barriers of not having enough women in the decision-making rooms.
Speaking on the night she found out Willa said: “I pretty much just burst out laughing! I was so happy, and it was a really good moment for me.
“It wasn’t that I didn’t believe I would get it, but I just knew that everyone going for it was seriously impressive.
“My family were really happy for me. I called them up and basically rushed them home from a dog walk to tell them!
Willa shared about where her passion and enthusiasm comes from and how her cousin’s football success inspired her.
“My whole family is football obsessed but one moment that resonates with me was in 2018, my cousin captained her University of Cambridge college football team to winning the league.
“Up until that point I had kind of thought the space of football was reserved for men, but for her to not only be able to play but play in a league and succeed was so powerful and that encouraged me to get into football.
“I had contacted Karen [Dobres] previously, who is just an amazing woman, and she mentioned at the time about the board of directors.
“The opportunity arose for me to apply, and I thought I would give it a go. The experience in itself was amazing, it encouraged me to be more involved with the club regardless.
Willa first discovered Lewes FC in 2021, a moment that inspired her beyond just getting involved with the club.
“I initially found out about the club a year-and-a-half ago in 2021, around the time of International Women’s Day.
“There was a piece in The Guardian by Suzy Wrack about the equal pay initiative, and there was a quote from Maggie Murphy basically saying if we want to create change in this country, we can do it but if we don’t utilise football as a tool we’ll just get there slower!
“It just made so much sense in my head and at the time I was planning what to write my dissertation on. I studied Sustainable Development at the University of Edinburgh focusing on social sustainability.
“So, when it came to my dissertation, being inspired by my cousin and combined with the work I saw Lewes doing, brought me to my title which was ‘Women’s Football – A Game of Resistance.’
“It was basically how the history of oppression for women in football has emboldened us with power when we play, power that transcends the football pitch”
Lastly, Willa spoke to us about what she would bring to the role and her future ambitions for the club.
“I am leading on Impact on the World, and with that, it’s so hard to quantify what can be done. Football has such a big reach and Lewes as a club has a big voice as well.
“The diversity on the board is a really big thing and one of the barriers to change in football is definitely not having enough women in those decision-making rooms.
“I’m excited to bring that to the board in that sense and also my age as well. Me and Maggie spoke about potentially starting a Youth Council, I think it would be great for us to bring the next generation in to help us with our goals.
“For us to become the most fan-owned club in the country would be incredible and really important in helping us achieve our goals. Increasing ownerships is crucial to my side of what I want to do as well. More exposure means more ability for us to make change.
“It would be great to see both the women and men get promoted. Especially if the women got to the WSL competing with huge football clubs, we have something they don’t, and it would be amazing to showcase that.”
FILMING AT TODAY’S GAME
Today there may be film crews in the ground, filming on behalf of Lewes Football Club and other media organisations. The filming is usually for Lewes FC marketing purposes, to show what a match day looks/sounds like and to generally promote what we do. Lewes Football Club respectfully asks for your permission to be filmed. If you do not want to be filmed, please let the crew know directly and they will oblige. Thanks for your cooperation in helping to build a successful club.
CREDITS AND LEGAL
“The Barclays FA Women’s Championship strongly supports recent FA statements that there should be a zero tolerance approach against racism and all forms of discrimination. Accordingly, any form of discriminatory abuse, whether it be based on race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, faith, age, ability or any other form of abuse will be reported to The Football Association for action by that Association. (The FA 0800 085 0508/Kick It Out 020 7253 0162).“
Lewes 2000 FC Limited. Registered in England and Wales with Company Registration Number 03790979. Lewes 2000 FC Limited is 100% owned by Lewes Community Football Club.
Honorary President Terry Parris
Acting Chair Trevor Wells
Directors Willa Bailey, Tim Bradshaw, Ed Briggs, Andy Gowland, John Peel, Trevor Wells, Priscilla Aldridge
Chief Executive Officer Maggie Murphy
Life Members
Peter Brook, Dorothy Brook RIP, Vic Blunt RIP, Pat Dartnell, Gary Elphick, Gordon Fowlie, Peter Hiscox RIP, Billy Nixon, Derrick Parris RIP, Terry Parris, Jimmy Quinn, P. Swaysland, Steve Ibbitson, Jason Hopkinson, Steve White, Martin Elliot, Kevin Fingerneissl, Kevin Powell, David and Barbara Arnold, Roger and Cathy Feltham, Ethel Treagus, Roy Dartnell RIP, Ron Moore, Derek Southouse, Ray Smith, Ken Carter RIP
Manager Scott Booth
Assistant Manager Natalie Lawrence
General Manager Lynne Burrell
Club Doctor Dr Daniel Hudson
Head Physiotherapist Adam Hutchins
Sports Therapist Liam Jenman
Sports Therapist Intern Beth Lenihan
Sport Scientist Ivi Casagrande
Mental Coach Sarah Murray
Data Analyst Tom Drummer
Kit Manager Kerri Coombs
Communications Manager Jack Towers
Commercial Manager Stef McLoughlin
Operations Manager Ryan Sullivan
Fan Engagement Manager Shrey Nilvarna
Facilities Manager Damien Watts
Golden Rook Rob Read
Web Editors Jack Towers
Progcast Editors Jack Towers / Stan Lahood
Club Photographer James Boyes & Grace Jones
Communication Manager Jack Towers
Commercial Manager Stef McLoughlin
NEXT UP AT THE PAN….
Sunday 11 DECEMBER 2022 – 1PM KICK OFF
The Vitality Women’s FA Cup
Southampton Women’s or London Bees (Tie to be played today at 1:00pm)
