Sunday 3rd October will be a historic day in the Women’s National League Northern Premier as Nottingham Forest and Derby County take to the pitch at The City Ground in Nottingham for the East Midlands Derby. This will be the first women’s league fixture at the ground and the teams are set to walk out to a record crowd.
Sitting second and fourth in the table the teams are separated by just one point, both with four wins so far. Derby currently have a game in hand and a win in this fixture could take either team to the top of the table.
Due to covid-19 disruptions only one game was played between the sides last season, where Forest were 2-0 winners and in previous head-to-heads Derby haven’t taken the win since 2018.
The City Ground has been used for one previous fixture involving Forest Women. In October 2018 they welcomed the Jamaican Women’s National Team for a special game to celebrate the Windrush generation. In front of a crowd of nearly 4000, the Reggae Girlz ran out 3-0 winners on the day.
Speaking to Stuart Barker on the Since 71 Podcast, Forest head coach Andy Cook gave his thoughts on how he wants his side to approach the game. “Ultimately regardless of whether it’s a stadium of 30,000 or Eastwood that has 500 in it’s still a white box with a line across the middle and that’s all it is. It’s just a game of football and it’s a game that we’ve got to go and try and win. I’m quite honest in my assessment of things so I’d say ‘how often does this happen?’. For me, you’ve got to enjoy every moment.”
He hopes they will attract new fans of the men’s team who wouldn’t ordinarily attend games at Eastwood and that it is a memorable day for all involved.
The match kicks off at 2pm and tickets are still available from: https://www.eticketing.co.uk/nottinghamforest.
