The Danske Bank Women’s Premiership continues this week as we enter gameweek three of the 2022 campaign.
The league now has eight teams, with Mid Ulster and Lisburn joining Glentoran, Cliftonville, Crusaders, Linfield, Derry City and Sion Swifts in the top-flight.
Each team will play the other seven sides twice, home and away, before the league splits into a top four and bottom four – with each team playing other sides in their half two more times, meaning that each team plays 20 league matches.
There will also be a mid-season break of Premiership fixtures between 1 June and 1 August, to allow for the Northern Ireland side’s participation in the European Championships.
Cliftonville and Glentoran lead the early table on six points each, with Crusaders and Linfield both on four points, Sion Swifts on three with Mid Ulster, Lisburn and Derry City all waiting to get off the mark.
There are no shortage of exciting matches this week as the Crues travel to the Reds for a North Belfast derby while champions Glentoran host Linfield.
All games take place on Wednesday with 7:45pm start times.
Cliftonville Ladies v Crusaders Strikers, Solitude
Julie Nelson’s late free-kick rescued a point for Crusaders at home to Linfield last week while Cliftonville have won each of their opening games against Sion Swifts and Derry City.
The Reds won all four matches between the two sides last season with an aggregate scoreline of 10-3 but the Crues had won each of the three meetings prior to that.
Cliftonville will be favourites for this tie but Jonny Tuffey’s side are notoriously difficult to beat and this will be a huge early test for both sides.
Derry City Women v Lisburn Ladies, Brandywell
Both of these sides will be looking to get off the mark for this season while they have never previously met in the top flight.
Derry have lost their opening games to nil against Crusaders and Cliftonville but this is their first match in the Brandywell stadium.
Lisburn scored their first goal of the season last week against Sion but have shipped nine goals in their opening two games and will be aiming to get their first points on the board in this fixture.
Glentoran Women v Linfield Ladies, Ashfield Boys
Glentoran have won each of the past three meetings between the sides with an aggregate scoreline of 21-0 but expect this game to be much closer.
Linfield have bolstered their squad significantly since last season’s meetings and prior to losing multiple players to injury, held the Glens to an early-season 1-1 draw.
Glentoran will be favourites to carry on their 100 percent winning start to the season but there are early signs – with four points from their opening two games – that the Blues will be a strong force in the league this campaign and may be aiming for a surprise result here.
Sion Swifts Ladies v Mid Ulster Ladies, Melvin Sports Complex
Mid Ulster are one of the two newly-promoted sides in the league and as such, have never previously played Sion Swifts in the top flight.
The visitors have had a tough start to the season with games against Linfield and Glentoran respectively but a battling performance last week saw them frustrate the Glens for large patches in a 1-3 defeat.
Sion bounced back from a four-goal loss at home to Cliftonville on the opening day to beat Lisburn 5-1 last time out and will favourites to register another three points in this tie.
