WOMEN'S MATCH PREVIEW: Rugby Borough (A)

Derby County Women will kick off their 2025/26 FA Women’s National League Northern Premier League campaign with a trip to Rugby Borough on Sunday (3pm kick-off).

Head Coach Sam Griffiths’ side will get their season under way at Kilsby Lane Stadium, with 10 new additions to the squad since the end of the 2024/25 campaign.

The squad has been reshaped by Griffiths and her staff over the summer, with goalkeeper Hannah Wayne; centre-back Mikayla Wildgoose; full-backs Jess Melrose and Yasmin Mason; midfielders Ella Bryan and Olivia Edwards; and attackers Ché Thomas, Minnie Wilson and Georgia Stevens joining the ranks for pre-season.

Defender Hannah Sparkes was the most recent to sign up, joining from Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday.

Young players Mia Wheeler and Marnie Drake have also joined up with the squad, rising from the Derby County Community Trust’s Female Talent Pathway - the Ewes’ Youth football programme - and into the first team squad for the new season.

Derby took one point from their two meetings with Rugby last season, as they drew 1-1 at the Don Amott Arena back in February, but lost away from home as Borough scored four without reply earlier in the season.

Ticket Information

Tickets can be purchased via Rugby Borough’s website, as well as on the gate at Kilby Lane on Sunday.

Stadium Address: Rugby Borough FC, Kilsby Ln, Rugby, CV21 4PN

Find out more by clicking here.

The Opposition

In June 2023, Rugby Borough Women were introduced to the women’s football pyramid.

They are currently led by Head Coach Lee Burch, who has been in post since July 2022.

He has a wealth of WSL2 previous experience with London Bees and Millwall Lionesses, amongst others. His most notable achievement came with Yeovil Town Women, where he earned promotion to the top tier in 2016/17.

The club has previously operated under the names “Coventry City” (2013-2015) and “Coventry United” (2015-2023).

The majority of the club’s notable success came under the Coventry United banner. When they took on the “United” moniker in summer 2015, the club was in the Northern Premier Division.

Two seasons later, they were promoted into the Women’s Championship (now WSL2) and remained in the division for four seasons until relegation in 2022/23.

Rugby are entering their second season in the FA WNL Northern Premier Division, after moving from the Southern Division following the 2023/24 campaign.

Rugby took on their current guise on 1st June 2023, following a 15-mile relocation from Coventry to Warwickshire, where they became part of Rugby Borough FC, who also operate a men’s team and Academy.

At the time of these changes, the club admitted its ambitions, with General Manager Jack Heaselden saying, “The aim is to hopefully only be in tier three for one year. We want to operate at as high a level as we can off the pitch, so we want not only a Championship mentality but actually a WSL mentality.”

They finished third in the Southern league, having been there for one season after relegation from the Tier 2 - their first as “Rugby Borough”.

From last season, they once again became a Northern Premier Division side. They registered a fifth-place finish in a competitive league last time out and will once again be hoping to mount a promotion push.

Rugby also reached the Fifth Round of the Women’s FA Cup last season, where they hosted Liverpool and were narrowly beaten 2-0 by the Women’s Super League side.

Club Links

Winger Jess Camwell played 43 times and scored seven goals in Derby colours, having joined the Ewes’ ranks in February 2022 after spells with Leicester City Women, the Foxes’ Academy, Cambridge United’s Centre of Excellence and Peterborough United’s youth set-up.

After initially being with the club on a dual-registration basis in the closing stages of the 2021/22 season, she signed permanently for the 2022/23 campaign.

She signed up with Rugby, having left Derby in November 2023 and made 23 appearances last season.

Fellow attacker Yasmin Mosby moved to Rugby from the Ewes at the same time as Camwell. The former Nottingham Forest striker had only a short stint in Derbyshire before making the move.

Last season, she netted 20 goals in 27 appearances to help Borough on the way to finishing in fifth spot.