Match Preview

A week after United's nine goal thriller which saw them progress past the East Midlands Premier Division leaders, Peterborough United, 'The Whites' travel to face Posh's fellow Premier Division side, Mansfield Town Ladies, in the Trevor Clifton Trophy semi-finals.

The two sides have met before, in both the tenure under the name Hykeham Town and this pre-season whilst named Lincoln United. The first meeting came in the 18/19 season in The FA Cup, 'The Stags' running out winners 3-2 in extra-time. The most recent game was staggeringly different with United running out 8-1 winners in the pre-season friendly.

Ahead of tomorrow's semi-final, Whites' Women's Manager, Chris Funnell, had this to say on the upcoming match.

"We're thrilled to reach a semi-final, having the possibility to reach a final, etc, these opportunities don't come along very often in football and we need to ensure we do all we can to make the most of the opportunity we find ourselves in, especially after last week's performance.

Last week's game against Peterborough United was a real stand-out game for women's football at this level. I wasn't too keen on the emotional rollercoaster that I went through within the second half but the quality on show from both teams was fantastic and, to score five goals away from home against a side such as Peterborough United is a testament to the team. We know that we're going to have to play with the same intensity and quality, both in and out of possession, ensuring we impose ourselves in the match against Mansfield.

Similarly to before the quarter final match and off the back of last week's match, preparation this week has been about ensuring we're doing all we can to make sure our players are fit to go, whilst working with the squad to ensure we're all tuned into our approach. Thankfully, Steph Powell, Chloe Brock-Taylor and Heather Pettit have all been given the green light by the medical staff, they're all huge assets to us. We've still got players unavailable but the squad and strength in depth we have should be more than enough to ensure we're competitive and go give ourselves the best chance of progressing into the final.

Finally, whilst there were numerous motivations to win last week, one of them was certainly giving us the opportunity to play in front of our team's fans in a semi-final. I'm aware we've had so many messages since we've returned to football, asking about coming to watch and so I'm hopeful we'll see a few at the match".