Tranmere Rovers Women's vs Manchester Women's - Women's North Preview

Manchester Women’s National Futsal League North campaign is set to get underway on Saturday with a trip across the M62 to face Tranmere Rovers Women’s at Prenton Park.

The Blues will travel to the Wirral in what will be their opening game of the campaign, in a league with a host of new teams and hot talent on show with seven teams now taking part in the Women’s North as opposed to five in the last campaign.

Manchester – who finished third last season behind Saturday’s opponents – will be raring to go after a positive pre-season saw them beat a Manchester United Ladies Development Team at the National Cycling Centre and will no doubt have injected a lot of confidence into the side.

The Women's team captain and co-ordinator Leanne Skarratt spoke ahead of the game with glee along with plenty of optimism as she cannot wait for the season to get started.

“From a personal perspective, I’m feeling excited and can’t wait to get going. There are a couple of new teams in the North League this season, so it is going to be super interesting to see how it all unfolds. I expect that all teams will have added players and that the overall standard of the league will be stronger than last season. So, we’re looking forward to the challenge and to further our learning as a team “.

Skarratt’s side fell heavily to the hands of last season’s champions Morecambe Ladies 14-1 at the Northgate Arena in Chester back in April, and compared the performance to their win over Manchester United Ladies, she spoke of her delight about how far her team have come.

“I think the contrast in those two particular performances highlights just how far we have come in a short space of time. We have strengthened the squad significantly and I think all of us are reaping the benefits from training with each other every week under Sergi. The win against a talented Manchester United Development Team was definitely a confidence boost going into the season, and I think it has helped the players to really believe in our potential this year.”

Skarratt remained planted and spoke gracefully about Tranmere Rovers after the Merseyside-based outfit finished above the Blues in second place last season.

“I am not going to make any predictions, as I know we’ll be facing a Tranmere team who’ve also added some new players this year. Both clubs having new look sides makes it very hard to predict things. They finished one place above us in the league last season, so we know they’ll be a strong side and we’ll have to be at our best.”

The Blues get their campaign underway at Prenton Park on Saturday, with kick-off scheduled for 4:15pm.