Footballers needed for newly-created women's team

Trials will take part during the summer at Didcot Town's Loop Meadow Stadium

A new women's football team is set to be created ready to kick-off next season.

Didcot Town Women are due to hold trials for the new squad at the Loop Meadow Stadium training pitch on 1 July, so that they can start playing in the 2024/25 season.

The league that the team enters will depend on the level of the players that they manage to attract, but they could enter Thames Valley Counties Women's Football League Division One.

Kevin Lyons, chairman of Didcot Town, said it was "absolutely huge for the club, for the community and for ladies football overall".

Didcot Town currently has five youth football teams for girls, including an under-17s side.

Mr Lyons said the introduction of a senior women's football team provides a "pathway" for those girls to take their next step towards the professional side of the game.

He said: "We've been desperate for a number of years to have a ladies team, it's important that we get the structure right and play at the right level so that we can encourage more ladies to join and maybe have a second ladies team."

David Imrie, will manage the new women's side, and admitted that while he has played football at various levels this will be his first venture into management.

He said the coaching staff from the Didcot Town's men's team will offer support and training sessions for the new side.

Mr Imrie, whose daughter plays football for one of the town's youth sides, said they are currently looking for players and have had some "good applicants so far".