Remembering LCFC Women’s Opening Day Delight
At 9am BST on Friday 23 June, the full WSL fixture list will be revealed, with Foxes fans eagerly anticipating the news ahead of the Club’s first foray into the top division of English women’s football.
The first game of the season is always one to look out for and as in 2020/21, it promises to be a memorable occasion, whoever the opponent is that day.
Last season, it was City’s maiden fixture as a full-time outfit, now officially part of the Leicester City family, and there was a mixture of excitement and expectation heading into the clash with Blackburn Rovers…
LCFC Women 3 Blackburn Rovers Ladies 0
Sunday 6 September, 2020
Farley Way Stadium
FA Women’s Championship
Leicester finished the shortened 2019/20 season in sixth position, but had not played a competitive fixture since 20 February, a momentous Vitality Women’s FA Cup fifth round victory over top-flight opponents, Reading.
Add to that a total of 13 new faces in the squad and eight debutants in the starting XI, City were entering into the unknown when Blackburn Rovers arrived in Quorn for the behind-closed-doors encounter in early September.
What followed was a professional display of quality that put down an early marker of LCFC Women’s intentions for the season ahead.
Charlie Devlin scored the opening goal of the new era after just 17 minutes, cleverly guiding the ball past Rovers ‘keeper Fran Bentley after a neat pass played through by Sam Tierney.
Following a second yellow card for visiting captain Saffron Jordan early in the second half, Leicester capitalised on their player advantage. Natasha Flint scored on debut, against her former side, rattling in an unstoppable half-volley with 20 minutes to go.
And the ex-England youth international claimed her second of the afternoon on 82 minutes, with another first-time strike from the edge of the penalty box, later named as Goal of the Season at the Club’s End of Season awards.
Three points, three goals and a clean sheet was the perfect way to begin the campaign and it would turn out to be a historic season for LCFC Women as they went on to claim the FA Women’s Championship title.