Loughborough Lightning: A season that leads to promotion

Loughborough Lightning players celebrating. Credit: ll.football on Instagram

After beating Sutton Coldfield Town 5-0, Loughborough Lightning have been crowned Champions of Women’s National League Division One Midlands.

Lightning have had an incredible season being unbeaten in the league, so let’s delve deeper into the season that has created champions.

Season overview:

With one game left to play, Loughborough currently sit top with 57 points, 6 points clear of second place Northampton town hence already winning the title.

Loughborough Lightning are the only side in the league to remain unbeaten both home and away, with a total of 18 wins and only 3 draws. They have totalled a goal difference of 74, scoring 84 and only conceding 10 all season.

Reasons for success and stand out players:

Loughborough Lightning have been a stand-out team across all divisions of women’s football this season, with incredible statistics for both their attack and their defence proving them to be a force to be reckoned with.

Lightning have been formidable in defence with a total of 15 clean sheets in the league this season. In fact, Lightning have been ranked sixth for best defence in the country across all tiers of women’s football, sitting below the likes of WSL giants Manchester United and National League Premier Northern Division front-runners, Nottingham Forest. They also have an average of conceding only 0.41 goals per game.

This defensive record is a credit to both the consistency of the back line and performances from goalkeepers Alicia Grimmond and Teresa Murphy. Stand-out players in the back line include Hannah Plumb and Hannah Langford.

As well as this amazing record in defence, their record in attack is equally impressive. Scoring 84 goals across the league with some impressive scorelines including beating Notts County 8-0, Lincoln City 9-0 and Lincoln United 10-0.

Stand-out players in the attack include Zynia Delglyn and Ella-Mai Coutts with 11 goals each, Lauren Purchase with 13 goals and Jessica Collyer with 16.

Loughborough Lightning’s final game is at home to Boldmere St Michaels on the 27th April before they play Leicester City Academy in the County Cup final on May 7th.