HTAFC Women travel to local rivals Brighouse Town in FAWNL Cup Quarter Final
- West Yorkshire derby in the FAWNL Cup
- Match has been twice postponed due to adverse weather
- Supporters encouraged to attend at Yorkshire Payment Stadium
Huddersfield Town Women travel across West Yorkshire to face Brighouse Town on Wednesday 16th February at the Yorkshire Payments Stadium.
With the Terriers looking to extend their winning run in the FA Women's National League Cup, questions remain over if they will be able to avenge January’s narrow defeat to the same opponents and progress to the semi final stages.
Brighouse head into this game full of confidence having won their last meeting with Town on a wild and windy night, with an unfortunate own goal by Paige Crossman the only difference between the sides.
With both teams consistent in the League Cup competition - and evenly matched in the Women's National League - it's hard to call which way the match will go. Town will be fired up to make the semi final and will want to beat their rivals as they were unable to do so last time out.
Manager Glen Preston believes his side needs to overcome the previous result:
"We want to try and put right what we felt went wrong in the last game. Overall, for us it's purely about focusing on what principles will help us win this game and get us through to the next round of the cup. We need to play with our heads as much as our hearts. We have evaluated Brighouse extensively and we have a much better idea of their style, strengths and vulnerabilities which we will be looking to exploit.
"I think we showed versus Everton that for long periods we could control the game off the ball against a much superior side. We did a great job forcing them backwards, sideways and coaxing them into areas we wanted. When you consider we didn't even get to train properly on our game plan, to me, makes the performance so much more impressive. I don't expect us to be under the same levels of pressure against Brighouse, so we must prepare for a different type of game with different challenges."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
As the Terriers’ top scorer, Britt Sanderson will be eager to add to her tally. Sanderson missed out on a goal the last time the sides met, so Brittany will be desperate to rectify that. Sanderson scored in the previous two appearances against the opposition.
Town forward Laura Elford was unlucky last time out, where she hit the post. The striker is only one goal behind Sanderson and will want to increase her total, and this would be the ideal opportunity to do so.
Brighouse have plenty of goal scorers themselves, with former Terrier Leah Embley is their top scorer. Embley stands head and shoulders above her teammates, currently on 20 goals for the season.
Sanderson believes the recent meeting helps with being prepared:
"It does help, as we know what type of game to expect, and the type of problems they caused us last time. With it being a cup game, we will be working hard in training this week to rectify that result."
HOW TO WATCH
Town fans will be able to watch the derby in person at the Yorkshire Payments Stadium, HD6 2PL. Tickets are priced at £5 for adults and £3 for concessions.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm on Wednesday 16th February.
Can’t make the game? As always, online coverage of the match will be available across all HTWFC channels, including minute-by-minute updates on Twitter - @HTAFCWomen - plus match build up on Instagram. Highlights will also be released following the game for fans to catch up on the action.
