Sheffield Wednesday Ladies sit fourth in the North East Regional Women’s Football League after a “really encouraging start to the season”, and are looking to keep the foot on the gas this weekend.

The Owls have won four of their first six games, and are prime position to finish high in the table come the end of the campaign, should they keep up their impressive form they have shown in the early stage of the season.

Andy Gilligan, the manager of SWL, is delighted with how the team has performed so far as he said: “I’ve been really happy with how things have gone.”

With a strong run of performances under their belts, Mr Gilligan’s mantra of taking every game as it comes is how he plans to keep the team grounded.

He said: “We try to just focus on the next match and let ‘runs’ take care of themselves.”

For the game against Ilkley Town, at the Jubilee Sports and Social Club, SWL will be without key players such as Jess Birtles due to injury.

However, with Amy Broomhead being eased back into the fray, Mr Gilligan has “a strong squad to select from”.

Nicole Shaw joined the club in July 2024 from Barnsley FC, and has already scored seven goals in just nine games in the league, as she said: “I think I’ve had quite a positive start to the season”.

Miss Shaw attributes her recent successes to that of her teamates, and how much it has helped to have a strong squad alongside her.

She said: “I am lucky enough to have a really good squad behind me that give the the confidence to play better and believe in myself.”

Miss Shaw also sang the praises of the backroom, saying: “we are very fortunate to have such an encouraging and supporting coaching staff”.

The team will need to be ready for everything that sixth placed Ilkley Town throw at them, but with their current form, and the team cohesion on display, all three points may just be coming back to S6.