LCFC Women Remain Without Plumptre For Man Utd Test

- LCFC Women tackle Manchester United on Saturday (12pm kick-off)
- Ashleigh Plumptre is set to miss out on the WSL clash at Leigh Sports Village
- Jess Sigsworth and Lachante Paul are also on the sidelines
- Sophie Howard is available after her red card was rescinded

The Foxes travel up to Leigh Sports Village for the 12pm kick-off against the Red Devils this weekend, aiming to continue their ascent up the Barclays FA Women’s Super League table following a positive February.

After helping her country qualify for 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations last week, Nigeria international Plumptre picked up an illness which ruled her out of the Vitality Women’s FA Cup tie at Chelsea.

The defender remains unavailable for selection, alongside former United forward Jess Sigsworth (ACL), while fellow long-term absentee Lachante Paul continues to work her way back to fitness following a knee injury.

“That’s generally still the case,” the manager told the media in Wednesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference held at Belvoir Drive. “From the weekend through to now we’ll still be missing Ashleigh Plumptre.

“She’s just had an illness that she’s picked up while away on international duty that she hasn’t been able to shift yet, so we’re just prioritising making sure that we don’t rush her back in. But other than that, we remain very similar to last week’s game, which is good.”

Centre-back Sophie Howard will be back in contention, however, following a successful appeal for wrongful dismissal made by the Club after her straight red card in Saturday’s FA Cup match against the Blues.

Bedford added: “Our biggest emotion is just relief and being pleased for Sophie that we’ve managed to get that overturned. I think in the moment of the game it was my opinion that it wasn’t a red card.

“But that’s football and you’ve just got to get on with it and play the game that is left to play. For now, the key thing for us with getting it overturned was having her available for the games in March and I’m really pleased that she is now available.”

All times GMT.