Winchcombe Town Women winger Loretta May says the Magpies are ‘destined’ to earn their first-ever piece of silverware this season.
The local side are fiercely chasing runaway leaders Bitton Development Ladies in the Gloucestershire County FA Women’s League 3rd division and are in the quarter-final of the Gloucestershire Women’s Challenge Cup.
May and her teammates edged past bitter rivals City of Gloucester on penalties to confirm their place in the last eight, which marks the furthest they’ve ever gone in the competition.
The winger revealed how bullish the camp are about their chances, and reflected on the progression of her team over the last 18 months.
“The feeling and just camaraderie of the team is really strong at the moment,” she said. “I think the togetherness of the group has been a bit disjointed in the past but that’s not the case anymore.
“After our win in the cup against Gloucester, who beat us the week before that, it feels like we are finally starting to build something strong.”
Since being formed in 2018, Winchcombe have failed to keep a consistent group of players, which has led to four consecutive bottom-half finishes.
But six wins in their first nine league matches this season have established the Magpies as a force to be reckoned with, and they could soon have leaders Bitton looking cautiously over their shoulders.
The table toppers boast a nine-point lead as it stands but are yet to play away at Winchcombe, which could prove a vital match to decide who will emerge victorious come April.
May continued: “Bitton came down last season and have kind of set themselves apart from everybody else so far, but they’ve had the advantage of a few first-team players playing for them at times this season and there are still a lot of points to play for, so it’s far from done.
“I do think that the cup is our best chance of making a little bit of our own history this year, we knocked out one of the favourites in Gloucester and if we get a good draw, we could be destined to go all the way.”
Some fresh faces in the summer and big developments from existing players of the squad, including May, have been the key to this season’s progression.
May has been at the club for four years and admitted that the positivity around the place feels like it has been a long time coming.
“I think this is a league that we should be competing in at the top, and we have all been frustrated with how the last few years have panned out,” she said.
“Personally, I have really improved over the last 12 months or so and I think the manager and my teammates are to thank for that. The environment that we have now is so supportive and that has been the key to our progress, hopefully, this is just the beginning.”
