The 2022/23 Season For City's Women

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The 2022/23 Season For City's Women

A look back at a record-breaking season for LCFC Women as they retained their Barclays Women’s Super League status for a third consecutive season.

2023-06-11T07:48:00.000Z

by Matthew Temple

Published

11 Jun, 2023

The 2022/23 Season For City's Women

A look back at a record-breaking season for LCFC Women as they retained their Barclays Women’s Super League status for a third consecutive season.

Matthew Temple

2023-06-11T07:48:00.000Z

The 2022/23 Season For City's Women

A look back at a record-breaking season for LCFC Women as they retained their Barclays Women’s Super League status for a third consecutive season.

Matthew Temple

2023-06-11T07:48:00.000Z

The 2022/23 Season For City's Women

A look back at a record-breaking season for LCFC Women as they retained their Barclays Women’s Super League status for a third consecutive season.

Matthew Temple

2023-06-11T07:48:00.000Z

The 2022/23 Season For City's Women

A look back at a record-breaking season for LCFC Women as they retained their Barclays Women’s Super League status for a third consecutive season.

Matthew Temple

2023-06-11T07:48:00.000Z

Now we're into the summer break, let’s take a look back at the season just gone for City’s Women, who achieved the biggest WSL win in the Club’s history and secured safety on the final day in dramatic fashion.

The 2022/23 campaign did, however, not get off to the best of starts for the Foxes, who were hoping to push on from their near-relegation maiden season in the top flight, finishing two points above bottom-placed Birmingham City.

On the opening day, City welcomed Tottenham Hotspur to King Power Stadium. Unfortunately, the game did not go as planned as they were narrowly beaten 2-1 by Spurs, with Drew Spence hitting a brace, as the north London outfit took the points.

One week later, the Foxes were beaten on home soil again when a third-minute penalty from the WSL’s eventual top goalscorer Rachel Daly sent Aston Villa on their way to a 2-0 victory.

City then headed on the road for their first away game of the campaign, as they faced Everton at Walton Hall Park. Seconds away from picking up a deserved point, the hosts snatched all three late on when a free-kick was turned in by ‘keeper Kirstie Levell.

In early October, Leicester recorded their first win of the season, away to Blackburn Rovers in the first round of the Continental Tyres League Cup group stage. Goals from Mackenzie Smith, Connie Scofield and captain Aileen Whelan, who featured in every single one of the Foxes' games this season, confirmed three points for City in Group B of the competition.

Following their victory at Sir Tom Finney Stadium, Leicester went on a run of seven straight defeats, starting with a 4-0 loss to Manchester City, which saw Khadija Shaw net twice, before a 1-0 defeat to Manchester United and a 4-0 reverse at the hands Liverpool in the League Cup.

As October came to a close, the Foxes took on Reading in what already felt like a season-defining match at Select Car Leasing Stadium. City took the lead in the first half through Natasha Flint, but two injury-time goals from Rachel Rowe handed a painful 2-1 defeat to Leicester.

The next month saw a change at the helm for City, as Willie Kirk was appointed to replace Lydia Bedford, in time for the visit of Arsenal, however the former Everton manager was yet to implement his brand of style upon the team as they fell to a 4-0 loss at King Power Stadium.

In the penultimate game of 2022, Kirk took his side to the capital to take on West Ham United at Chigwell Construction Stadium. With an abundance of chances, many in attendance wondered how they were unable to take anything from the Hammers, who claimed the win late on thanks to an Isabeal Atkinson goal.

The year was then rounded off for the Foxes on Filbert Way, who were humbled 8-0 by Chelsea, and would go on to claim their fourth consecutive WSL title. But fortunately for Leicester fans, whose side sat bottom of the standings without a point, things were about to change.

At the start of the New Year, and with over four weeks of preparation for the second half of the season, City ran out 5-0 victors against Sunderland in the League Cup, as midfielder Molly Pike scored twice at Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground.

The biggest boost to the Leicester camp, however, was the introduction of new talent, as Kirk would bring in five reinforcements to his side, with German ‘keeper Janina Leitzig, who joined on loan from Bayern Munich, becoming an immediate fan-favourite.

On the loanee's introduction to the Leicester faithful, at home to Brighton & Hove Albion, City picked up their first WSL victory of the season, winning 3-0, thanks to strikes from Whelan, Sam Tierney and youngster Monique Robinson, who scored her first professional goal. Leitzig, placed between the sticks for that game, picked up a clean sheet on her debut.

Three days later, the Foxes put in another well-fought performance, as they were beaten 1-0 by Man City in the League Cup, as a late goal from Filippa Angeldahl was required to dispatch the hosts and eliminate them from the group stage of the competition.

Leicester brought January to a close with a final game at Pirelli Stadium as they took on Reading in the third round of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup. Sanne Troelsgaard opened the scoring early on before Tierney’s 29th-minute strike took the game to extra-time.

Hannah Cain gave City the lead, but a goal in the dying stages from Emma Mukani sent the game to penalties, where the Royals would gain passage to the next round, meaning all focus would turn to the league.

The Foxes started February with a 2-0 loss to Man City, before picking up their first away win of the WSL campaign against Liverpool, as Welsh international Cain turned in a clever corner routine, in what was the only goal of the game at Prenton Park, taking Leicester’s points total to six.

After an international break, City travelled to Leigh Sports Village where they were beaten 5-1 by Man Utd, however one positive from the defeat was that new striker Remy Siemsen, who joined the Club with an injury, was in the frame and netted on her debut in Manchester.

Into Mid-March and Leicester picked up their only draw of the season as they played out a 0-0 meeting with Everton on Filbert Way, in what was also the Foxes’ only goalless game of the campaign too.

The next result came in the form of a 1-0 defeat to Spurs at Brisbane Road as Bethany England, who had scored against Leicester in a Chelsea shirt earlier in the season, found the net with a spectacular effort over Leitzig in the second half.

The month was rounded off at Villa Park when the Villains scored five on their way to claiming all three points, and therefore Leicester’s next game, a home clash against Reading, would prove to be vital in the race for league safety.

Heading into the afternoon just one point behind Brighton meant that a positive result would see Kirk’s side lift themselves off bottom spot for the first time in the season. Things got off to a good start when Tierney, City’s top scorer, found the net for the fourth and final time of the campaign, after cushioning a volley into the bottom corner of Grace Moloney’s goal.

Charlie Wellings kicked in the nerves around King Power Stadium with Reading’s equaliser just before half-time, but after a dominant second-half display, the Foxes kept the confidence when the fourth official showed that 12 additional minutes were to be played.

Six minutes on from the announcement, Leicester had their moment that they’d been waiting for all season. Carrie Jones, on loan from Man Utd, couldn’t pick a better time to score her first goal for the Club, as a low effort, curling away from the Reading ‘keeper lifted the Foxes off bottom spot, with 10 points.

In typical football fashion, by the next fixture, City were back below the dreaded red line, but would be for the last time of the campaign, as a convincing 4-0 victory over Liverpool, took the tally to 13 points.

Carrie Jones made it two in two, as Josie Green, Ashleigh Plumptre and a first WSL goal for Missy Goodwin led the Foxes to their biggest ever top-flight win. Credit also had to be given to Australian full-back Courtney Nevin, who registered two assists in the game, and ended the season with four – more than any other Leicester player.

Two points ahead of Reading, and with four games to play, the reality of playing WSL football was in sight for City, who had to endure back-to-back defeats in the capital to Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.

In the penultimate game of the season, Leicester faced West Ham at King Power Stadium, but sadly could not guarantee safety on that day at least, as they fell to a 2-1 defeat. An unfortunate deflection off Sophie Howard gave the Irons the lead before a Dagný Brynjarsdóttir penalty in the second half.

The season was then brought to a close at Broadfield Stadium as the Foxes faced Brighton, with fate in their own hands, as only a City loss and a Reading win, against title-chasing Chelsea would send Kirk’s side down.

On the final day, Chelsea claimed the trophy with a 3-0 victory in Berkshire, but Leicester didn’t want their joy to come from the Royals’ downfall, and ended the season in fine fashion, dispatching the Seagulls 1-0.

Ava Baker, who became the youngest goalscorer for the Club when she netted against Sunderland only two days after her 17th birthday, scored the decisive winner with 15 minutes to play, when she clipped the ball over the Brighton ‘keeper from close range.

The full-time whistle not only confirmed Leicester’s spot in the top division for next season, but also meant their highest league finish in the WSL, as they climbed to 10th, leap-frogging Brighton on goal difference.

Finishing with three more points than last season’s total, City also scored one more goal, conceded five less, and gave one more debut to an Academy talent, in defender Jess Reavill, who joins the ever-strengthening production line at Belvoir Drive.

As they now prepare for their third consecutive season in the WSL, fans won’t quickly forget how the Foxes overcame a seven-point deficit to achieve league safety – the first side to ever do so.

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