Durham will be hoping to climb off the bottom of the WSL 2 on Sunday as they welcome Oxford United to New Ferens Park.
Andy Thorpe’s side fell to a 3-0 defeat to Doncaster Rovers Belles in the opening match of their campaign,but will be happy to have matched their opponents – who are tipped for promotion this season after missing out by just two points in 2014 – for the majority of the game.
Winger Jemma Purfield, who spoke to the club’s official website ahead of Durham’s clash with 4th placed United, was labelled an influential figure against the Belles by manager Thorpe. She said of the game this weekend: “Oxford have a lot of good players across the pitch, all the teams do now because it is such a strong league, so it’s going to be a tough game.
“I’m really looking forward to being back at home, I think everyone is. We have to turn up and do what we can do, but if we perform well I think it is a game that can get a win on the board for us.”
Heading into the fixture with the home advantage, Durham will be hoping they can hit Oxford on the attack early, who secured a 1-0 victory over Watford on their opening day of the season. A single first-half finish from Sahara Osborne-Ricketts was enough to hand Les Taylor’s side maximum points, after their disappointing 9th place finish in 2014.
Securing just three wins throughout the campaign, which saw them collect 12 points in 18 games to only finish above London Bees, Taylor will be hoping his side can continue their momentum of the new campaign in the midday kick-off.
“The atmosphere has been really positive this week in training,” he said. “We’ve got great team spirit, everyone is fit and well and we’re raring to go. It’s great to see everyone so positive and we just want to carry that on this weekend.”
“Obviously we don’t want to take Durham lightly just because they lost their opening match. We hope to go there well prepared and if we approach the game right hopefully we’ll come away with a good result.
“We know they have some good players, so we won’t underestimate them. I think they have a point to prove after last week, both teams are probably of a similar level and so they know they have a chance of getting a result against us.”
United will be hoping last season’s top scorer Lauren Allison will return to action alongside Amy Chivers, after the two were ruled out of the opening tie with a sickness bug which swept through the club’s ranks. However, Laura Nichol will remain on the sidelines with a toe injury for now – expected to return for next weekend’s meeting with Yeovil Town.
Oxford took the share of the points in the side’s two meetings last season, with a 2-1 victory followed by a 2-2 draw on home turf in September 2014.
