United Ladies take the title
Oxford United Ladies were yesterday crowned as champions of the South West Combination, despite not playing at the weekend.
Keynsham's 1-0 defeat against Plymouth meant that the United Ladies won the league before they play their last game of the season, against local rivals Swindon Town on Wednesday evening.
Manager Richard Blackmore was naturally delighted to take the title as his side prepare for their inaugural season in the new Women's Super League 2.
"It is fantastic to win the league" Richard told www.oufc.co.uk. "So many people have worked so hard throughout the season and this caps a great year for us. The girls deserve so much credit for the way they have played throughout. They train hard, they have an unbelievable team spirit and they have earned the title with some superb football.
"Keynsham have pushed us hard all year and we thought we were going to have to win our last game to win the league but Plymouth did us a massive favour on Sunday. In a way it would have been good to play the last game on Wednesday knowing we needed a win to be champions; finding out on the internet was a bit of an odd way, but we'll take it!
" It now means we can relax before the Swindon game and go out there and look to finish with a win to cap the season off.
"The WSL is a summer league so we have the rest of this year now to prepare properly and make sure we are ready for that new challenge.
"But first and foremost we will look to end with a win. It is a home game, it is Swindon Town and there is no way we will be easing up for this one."
Come along and see the Oxford United Ladies in action against Swindon. The game takes place at the Oxford Sports and Social Club on Roman Way, kick off at 6.45pm on Wednesday 22nd May. Admission is free.