The young side represented the borough in the Intermediate B Division and begin their second campaign in the Intermediate B Division in fairly confident mood after securing the backing from Trevor Best at the Clandeboye Road Irish League side.
Although the side struggled to find their feet in 2007, Manager Andy Craig remains upbeat about the up and coming football season "The emphasis this year will be improving the teams overall fitness and that will mean some unexpected hard work for the players, starting in just a few weeks. We are a strong side and if we can get our fitness levels up, we now have the ability and experience to certainly improve on our previous form - I¹m hopeful of a top four finish."
Bangor's Ash Hutton - starred for the Strikers before her move to Iceland
The championship itself came to a thrilling conclusion in late September and saw Glentoran Belfast United eventually lift the crown as Northern Ireland Champions, clinching their second consecutive championship from North Belfast rivals Newtownabbey Strikers. These two clubs have dominated ladies football since the turn of the century and are now recognised along with Lisburn Distillery Predators, as the top teams in the country.
The North Down side in comparison are one of the youngest clubs in the Province and are hopeful that with the backing of the Irish League club can build on the squad their have put together and will look to elevate up the league table.
Establishing themselves at Clandeboye Park was one of the main goals in 2007, the management have also developed strong links with Club Fylkir from the Icelandic First Division where Bangor's Northern Ireland international Ashley Hutton was invited over for trials in May.
The local footballer, just back from a stint playing football in America went on to complete her first season having featured in 14 of 16 possible league starts, in what proved to be the Reykjavik based club's best ever season in their 40 year history.
In fact, the teenager impressed so much, she went on to sign her first professional contract with Fylkir, worth in the region of 500,000ISK, before returning to the Province in September, and will be looking forward to returning over to Iceland in time for her second season.
Ashley, home for Christmas, is currently studying at Leeds Met. University,featuring as a regular in their ladies team, who are currently at the top of the BUSA Northern Premier League; and is also playing club football at the weekends with top English side Leeds United Ladies and has a massive against English champion Arsenal coming up on Sunday, 13th January.
Interestingly enough, one of Ashley¹s last games saw her lift a cup medal for the English Champions Arsenal, when their played Charlton in the London Cup final when Ashley was coming through at the youth academy at Saint Alban's.
Locally with the last of the seasonal festivities about to come to a close this weekend the coaches are looking to recall the ladies back for training and should be putting the Seniors through some tough work over the next few months - the league kicks off in April.
The Seasider¹s have now an official website where you can browse through the history of womens football in Northern Ireland, check out all the latest developments at Clandeboye Park and provides contact numbers of all the ladies teams in the NIWFA. The site also features the recently held Womens World Cup in China and the 2009 European Championships which will see World ranked No. 10 side England take on Northern Ireland in March.
Euro Qualifiers....England 4, Northern Ireland 0
Belarus 5, Northern Ireland 0
New players are very welcome, whether for fitness or fun, you can find out more details by contacting club Secretary Julie Graham 07837 014398.
Start Your Preparations for 2008 NOW!!
REVIEW OF THE YEAR 2006!!
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Join On-Line! - 2008 Application Form for Bangor Ladies!!
Last Edited on 14-Jan-2008 7:17 AM
