Blackburn Rovers Ladies FC 2007-08 Season

National Premier League: 8th
League Cup: 3rd round; Liverpool h. 2-3
FA Cup: 6th round; Lincoln City a. 2-3 aet.

Highlight:
4-1 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup 5th round.

Low Spot:
3-2 defeat at Lincoln City in the FA Cup 6th round.

Good:
Katie Anderton
Anderton is probably the greediest footballer in the entire world but Blackburn would be in a real mess without her goals. Five goals on the opening day of the season against Cardiff set her on the way to 30 in all competitions which is a huge achievement in a team fighting to establish itself in the top flight.
Nicky Harding
Was certainly one of Rovers’ most consistent performers with a series of assured displays at left back. Has decent pace, tackles keenly and distributes well over both long and short distances.

In Brief:
Blackburn will probably be happy to have survived a second season in the top flight without any real alarms but did not look to have progressed over the course of the campaign. There were new faces in attack to support Katie Anderton but nobody stood out as an obvious improvement over their predecessors.
In defence the loss of goalkeeper Kay Hawke and centre half Mel Cook were also felt and it would appear as though a couple of quality signings are required ahead of next season.
Rovers will have been especially disappointed to go out of both cup competitions to teams they will feel they should have beaten.

History

Blackburn Rovers LFC was formed in 1991 and made steady progress in their early years to reach the Northern Combination in 1998.

The club then also made steady progress in that division. After finishing 9th and 8th respectively in their first two seasons at that level Rovers managed a mid table position in 2000-01 before establishing themselves as a genuine force.

In 2002 the club managed a 3rd place finish and have not looked back since.

The twin factors of establishing the clubs' headquarters at Blackburn's Centre of Excellence and the appointment of Andy McNally as manager were instrumental in Blackburn Ladies' rapid recent progress.

In the 2002-03 season Rovers finished 4th in the Combination but were actually closer to promotion than the year before and also made it through to the quarter finals of the FA Cup before losing 7-2 to a very strong Birmingham City side.

Promotion was then clinched in the most emphatic manner possible in 2004 as Blackburn recorded a perfect league campaign, winning all 22 of their fixtures.

The Northern Premier League held no terrors for the club and after finishing an excellent 3rd in 2005 the club romped to the title in 2006 to claim a place in the National Premier League for the first time in their history.

The club remained unbeaten once again with 20 wins and 2 draws from their 22 games and they also performed with distinction before losing in the two major cup competitions to National Premier League opposition, losing 2-0 to Everton in the League Cup and 2-1 after extra time to Chelsea in the FA Cup.

This effort saw McNally awarded the FA's Manager of the Year award, the first time the accolade had gone to someone outside the top flight.

On the playing front Lynda Shepherd was also recognised with selection for a training camp with the full England squad.

The clubs' rise to prominence has also been reflected in the Lancashire County Cup which they have won for three seasons running from 2004 and now look set to dominate.