Cheltenham Town Women centre-back Ffion Llewellyn believes that whilst Oxford United scored two goals to beat her side yesterday, they weren’t played off the park by the promotion hopefuls.
The ‘U’s’ took the lead just after half-time through Emma Thompson before Maisy Barker added a second from distance late in the second half.
“There really wasn’t a lot between us,” Llewellyn said. “We have definitely improved massively from our previous two performances (against Real Bedford and Gloucester City).
“They scored two goals, but they didn’t play us off the park for them. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t create those chances, and if we did we didn’t take them, nothing seemed to fall our way.
“We are gutted and frustrated as a team that we haven’t come away with a point or three today, we felt it was possible today but we now need to turn it around for Lewes.”
This month, Tom Davies’ side have welcomed goalkeeper Poppy Irvine on loan from Birmingham City and young striker Georgia Galley from Keynsham Town Ladies.
We are delighted to confirm the signing of Poppy Irvine, on loan from Birmingham City!
— Cheltenham Town Women FC (@CTWomenFC) January 3, 2026
Welcome to Cheltenham, Poppy! #CTWFC #FAWNL pic.twitter.com/Qsrer1dcVa
On the new signings this month, the Welsh player said, “It’s bringing the depth to the team we really needed. It’s great to have different options and strong options to come off the bench as well.
“We just need to get used to playing with them now, get them used to being in the club and training with us, but also getting to know each other on and off the pitch.”
Cheltenham now have a weekend off from competitive action before traveling to face Lewes FC on February 8th.
“Lewes are always a tough side to face,” Llewellyn said. “Beating them at home in the league was a great result for us, it was such a competitive game and a great battle, so they will want revenge for that.”
The home league game saw Llewellyn make a short cameo in goal, after a red card for Charlotte Haynes. Llewellyn made a crucial save in the final minutes to keep the score at 2-1 and secure the victory for the Robinesses.
“But also we want to beat them after the FA Cup result [a 4-0 loss for Cheltenham].”
“Everyone knows it’s a tough place to visit, especially for us with a long travel day, but we know what we need to do. We will go out there and give everything to get three points.”
