By Robert

As the new season approaches The Herdwick News caught up with Jamie Fitzwilliam, Penrith AFC Ladies manager as he talks Cup runs, attacking football and investment.

Playing in the sixth tier of the football pyramid the 2018 North West Regional Women’s Division One champions last season made it to back to back Cumberland FA County Cup finals, a fifth place finish coupled with an impressive Vitality FA Cup run and this year they want to go further.

Looking back on the previous season Jamie Fitzwilliam started on a personal note: “Personally it was a good season, players and staff made me feel very welcome from the start.”

Moving into the teams performance over the season he was positive about how the team performed: “On the pitch I think we performed well, qualifying and playing in the Vitality FA Cup was probably the highlight.

“We eventually got knocked out by National League opposition in Stockport County. In fact the cup runs in general were very positive, making the quarter finals in the League Cup as well as the final of the County Cup where we unfortunately lost on penalties.

“In the league we played some fantastic attacking football but maybe ran out of steam towards the end, 7 games in the final 21 days took its toll and thats something we will learn from and we hope to improve this year on our 5th place finish.”

Penrith AFC already know their first opponents as they look to repeat their Vitality FA Cup run as they take on Workington Reds Ladies on Sunday, October 1.

While their North West Women’s Regional campaign starts on Sunday, August 20, with a home game against Morecambe FC Women.

With the previous seasons accomplishments in mind Fitzwilliam outlined the targets for the 2023-24 season: “We would love another FA Cup run and we are aiming to go one better and win the County Cup this year.

“The league is our main priority though, we want to be in contention for the league title come the end of the season.”

With the 2023-24 season and Vitality FA Cup fixtures released Penrith know who they will be facing with Fitzwilliam saying:“Workington Reds and Carlisle United are our local rivals and probably two of the teams we look forward to playing.”

With the season starting in Sunday, August 30, the team returned to training and have played a couple of friendly matches and Fitzwilliam has been impressed with the sides progress.

“The players look sharp, training has been fantastic and I’ve been really impressed with the quality so far.

“I think the players have taken a lot of confidence from their performance last season and I think we are already seeing the benefits of the hard work they have put in over the previous 12 month.

“Its all been really positive so far and I can see a marked improvement from this time last year, which is very pleasing.”

The new players brought into the squad have fit into the team with Fitzwilliam adding they have fit in “Very well, we have added some players to key areas of the team, at the end of the season we identified some areas we thought we could improve and we have managed to bring in the right players in the right positions.”

The boom in the women’s game has seen record attendance at matches and Fitzwilliam sees this as a perfect time to get involved saying: “The womans game is going from strength to strength and I can’t think of a better time for business to get involved with local clubs.

“At Penrith we offer players sponsorship opportunities and can be contacted on any of our social media platforms if anyone would like to get in touch.”

In his final thoughts Fitzwilliam added: “I think everyone at Penrith Ladies are looking forward to the season and looking to improve and build on last season.”

He also touched on the development that is taking place at the clubs Frenchfield Stadium: “With the £900,000 development of the pitch and stadium, the continued growth of the womans games, I think there is a lot to look forward to.”

The Penrith team still have their pre-season tournament on Sunday, August 13, before they kick off their North West Women’s Regional Division One campaign at home to Morecambe FC Women.