Derby County Women FA Cup Preview: Loughborough Lightning (H)

Derby County Women will round off November with an FA Cup Second Round tie at home to Loughborough Lightning on Sunday afternoon (2pm kick-off).

dcfc.co.uk has brought together all the key information you will need to know ahead of the cup clash.

The FA Cup So Far...

Derby County Women secured their place in the Second Round of the 2023/24 Women’s FA Cup with an impressive 5-1 win at Lincoln City in the First Round earlier this month.

Sam Griffiths’ side navigated their way past a tricky tie against the Imps with skipper Amy Sims netting a hat-trick and forward Yasmin Mosby helping herself to a double in Lincolnshire.

Sims opened the scoring inside the opening 20 minutes to set the Ewes on their way before she added a second for herself and Derby on the stroke of half-time.

Mosby made it three immediately after the interval and despite seeing the hosts pull a goal back shortly afterwards, Sims went on to complete her hat-trick just after the hour mark to restore the side’s three-goal advantage.

Mosby rounded off the scoring with ten minutes remaining from the penalty spot to cap off another strong away day showing from the Ewes.

Loughborough In Focus...

Loughborough Lightning, meanwhile, have bounced back from a challenging 2022/23 season to be in with a great chance of returning to Tier 3 next season.

They finished bottom of the Northern Premier Division last term with three draws and 19 defeats from their 22 matches, but they’ve responded in emphatic fashion this time around.

They’re in magnificent form, unbeaten and top of Division One Midlands with eight wins and a draw from nine matches.

The side have hit 26 goals in the process and have Peterborough United breathing heavily down their necks, although they have a game in hand and a one-point cushion on their rivals.

Loughborough started the season with a 1-1 draw against Sheffield FC but have won their eight matches since then and came from 2-0 down to defeat Peterborough 4-2 on home territory in October.

They were 2-1 winners on the road at Lincoln United in their First Round tie a fortnight ago.