Howden Clough Girls JFC

🧡🖤 A PERFORMANCE TO BE PROUD OF 🖤🧡

Firstly, a huge thank you to all the girls for the respect they showed during today’s minute’s silence. It was a very personal moment for Chris following the sudden loss of his close friend and former Clough teammate, Pally. The girls were incredibly respectful and then carried that spirit onto the pitch. ❤️

⚽️ Onto the football…

The scoreline may not have gone our way, but the performance certainly gave us plenty to be proud of. Both coaches agreed that the girls have taken another big step forward today, with the opposition coach also complimenting how much we’ve improved.

There was more composure on the ball, less panic and some fantastic moments of passing and movement — including some lovely through balls to create opportunities. Playing higher up the pitch, we were strong defensively, combative in midfield and a real threat going forward.

Most importantly, the girls are starting to believe in themselves. They’re learning that success comes from working together as one team, supporting each other and playing for one another. 🧡

👏 Player of the Match
⭐️ Skarlett – excellent first touch, control and passing range, showing a fantastic desire to keep improving.

⭐️ Bethany – battled brilliantly all game and showed real composure after winning those battles, making good decisions with the ball.

A special mention too for Evangeline, who made her debut today. She had to be patient in an end-to-end game but came on with great energy and gave us another positive outlet. 👏

There’s still plenty to work on — positioning, movement, runs in behind, ball movement and fitness — but the progression is clear.

Top draw effort girls. Keep working together and the rewards will come. 🧡🖤⚽️

See you all at training Wednesday!

⭐ U8 GIRLS PLAYER OF THE MATCH ⭐

It was honestly so difficult to pick because everyone was fantastic, so tonight we had a Home PoTM and Away PoTM.

Home PoTM — Myla 🏆

After being away for a few weeks, Myla came back tonight and absolutely smashed it! She ran, ran some more and then somehow found the energy to run again! 😂

She was fearless in the tackle and made some brilliant runs to drive us forward and create chances. Fantastic performance! 👏🔥

Away PoTM — Jazmine 🏆

This was chosen by the opposition coach and was thoroughly deserved.

If tonight really was Jazmine’s first ever football match, you genuinely wouldn’t have known! She worked incredibly hard, looked confident on the ball and even did a great job in goal. 👏🧤

Well done Myla, Jazmine and every single girl tonight. 🧡🖤

🧡🖤 SO, SO PROUD OF THESE GIRLS TONIGHT! 🖤🧡

Honestly, we couldn’t be prouder. They gave absolutely everything tonight and, more importantly, you could see them learning, growing in confidence and smiling throughout! ⚽️🥰

We started a little slowly, probably due to nerves, which is completely understandable when you remember just how new all of this is for most of them.

But as the game went on, they got stronger and stronger. The confidence started to grow, we created some great chances and we were really unlucky not to find a goal.

And that’s the important thing right now. It’s not about results — it’s about getting these girls comfortable on a football pitch, learning the game and enjoying themselves. Some teams we face will have girls with more experience, but there is absolutely nothing to worry about. We’ll get there too! 💪

At the moment they’re having to take in so many instructions at once:

“Stand there!”
“Run there!”
“Attack!”
“Defend!”
“TACKLE!!!” 😂

But every week they’ll understand a little more, and eventually it will all just click. ⚡️

That was our final friendly before we head into the season in two weeks’ time! We’ve entered two teams into the league and we’ll share more information about how everything will work over the next week or so.

For now though, girls — be proud of yourselves!

You were brilliant tonight. ❤️⚽️

🧡🖤 KEEP LEARNING. KEEP SMILING. KEEP PLAYING. 🖤🧡

⭐️ A DAY TO REMEMBER AT THE ACCU STADIUM! ⭐️

What an incredible experience for some very lucky Howden Clough Girls as they visited the ACCU Stadium to watch Huddersfield Town Women make a fantastic start to the season with a 5-1 victory over Loughborough Lightning! 🔵⚪️⚽️

The girls got to experience the atmosphere of matchday first-hand and witness a footballing masterclass from the Town players — something they can aspire to themselves as they grow, develop and hopefully one day become part of the game at this level. 💪✨

And it didn’t stop there! 👀

Our lucky girls were given some incredible behind-the-scenes access, with the amazing opportunity to be matchday mascots and walk out onto the field of play alongside the players! 🥹⚽️

After the final whistle, they were also able to spend time with the players, grabbing photos and enjoying the chance to interact with their footballing heroes. 📸❤️

It was an experience they’ll remember for a long time, and they absolutely loved every minute of it!

Who knows… fingers crossed that one day it could be them walking out onto that pitch! 🌟⚽️

⭐ U8 GIRLS - PLAYER OF THE MATCH — ELIZA SWEENEY ⭐

What a performance from Eliza today! 🧡🖤

From the very first whistle, Eliza battled for every single ball, putting in some fantastic tackles and showing incredible determination all over the pitch. 💪⚽️

She was also a constant threat going forward, impressing us with some brilliant dribbling as she carried the ball up the pitch and took on the Ackworth defence. 🔥👏

But the biggest moment of all came when Eliza made history for the Howden Clough U8 Girls by scoring our FIRST EVER GOAL! 🥳⚽️

After winning the ball down the left, Eliza drove forward, cut across the box and created an opening before finishing low into the bottom-right corner. What a moment! 🙌🔥

A goal that will go down in the history of this brand-new team — and one we’re sure Eliza and the girls will remember for a very long time! 🧡

An absolutely deserved Player of the Match award. ⭐

Well done Eliza — keep working hard, keep enjoying your football and keep making memories! 👏🐯

⚽🧡 FIRST EVER GOAL! 🧡⚽

A HUGE moment for our Howden Clough U8 Girls as they got off the mark for the very first time against Ackworth! 🎉🙌

And it was Eliza Sweeney who wrote her name into the history books! ⭐

Eliza won the ball down the left-hand side before cutting across the box, creating an opening at goal and calmly finishing low into the bottom-right corner! ⚽🔥

The celebrations said it all! 🥳

Everyone at Howden Clough is extremely proud of the girls and this fantastic milestone. The first of what we hope will be many, many more goals to come! 🧡🖤

Well done girls! 👏🐯

U8 GIRLS - FIRST EVER MATCH v ACKWORTH! ⚽️

What a brilliant first match for the girls today! 👏⚽️

So many positives to take from it, but especially the confidence they showed as the game went on. Seeing them get stuck in, encourage each other and grow in confidence was fantastic to see.

There’s plenty for us to work on, but that’s what training and games are all about. For a first match, against a very established team, they should be extremely proud of themselves — lots of positives to build on! 💪❤️

Well done girls! 👏👏

⭐ Player of the match ⭐ - Eliza
What a performance from Eliza today! She battled for every ball, won loads of tackles and impressed us with her dribbling up the pitch 💪⚽️

And to top it all off, Eliza made history by scoring our first ever goal as a team! 🥳🔥

⚽🧡 U8 GIRLS | TRAINER OF THE WEEK & PoTM 🧡⚽

A slightly belated post from the past week…

👏 Emily was our combined Player of the Match AND Trainer of the Week! 🏆

Emily has grown massively in confidence recently and has been working incredibly hard in training. That hard work really showed during our inter-team friendly, where she put in a superb performance! 💪⚽

She then stepped into goal for the penalty shootout and produced an outstanding performance, making save after save! 🧤🔥

Well done, Emily! Keep working hard, keep developing and keep enjoying your football. We can’t wait to see you grow as a player throughout the season! 🧡🖤

Well deserved! 👏🏆

🦁🧡 U14 LIONESSES – TRAINING 🧡🖤

The U14 Lionesses continue to develop and hone their skills as they prepare for the 2026/27 season! 💪⚽

Tonight’s session focused on passing and movement, along with reactions and turning at pace — working on those key details that will help the girls take their game to the next level. 🔥

The girls then looked to put everything into practice during the game at the end of the session… and they impressed massively! 👏

Some fantastic build-up play, with the girls showing confidence in playing out from the back and creating some really good opportunities. ⚽🧡

Lots of hard work, plenty of progress and some really encouraging signs as we continue to build towards the new season.

KEEP WORKING, LIONESSES! 🦁🔥

⚽🦁 U8 GIRLS – TRAINING 🦁⚽

Another great training session for our U8 Girls tonight! 👏🧡🖤

The girls focussed on passing, dribbling, shooting and attack vs defence as they continue their preparations for their upcoming first season.

The girls showed a real desire to learn new skills, improve and work together as a team. 💪⚽

And it was brilliant to see the girls looking the part and starting to look like a real team in their brand-new training tops! 🧡🖤

A huge thank you to AG Joinery & Gardenrooms LTD () for kindly providing the girls with their training tops. 👏🙌

The countdown to their first season continues… 🦁🔥

LET’S GO LIONESSES! 🧡🖤