Chesterfield FC Women return to league action this weekend against Belper Town after a fixture-less weekend allowed the side to rest and recover.
Manager Andrea Parkinson said: “Last week the players had a full week off and didn’t train because of the weather, and had the Sunday off because we didn’t have a fixture.
“This week, we trained Tuesday night, which was really good to have the players back on board after a week off. We worked them really hard.
“We will be doing analysis on the Derby game on Thursday so that it’s fresh for the league game against Belper on Sunday.
“We try and video as many games as we can for the analysis side, which we go through with the team on Thursdays.
“We start at half past seven and finish at nine, so we do get to watch the full game and stop it and break down and focus on certain aspects; it’s really crucial.
“Training was really good last night; everyone was there on time. We got the warm-up done and everyone was buying into what we were trying to do at training.”
Andrea then provided an update on Kadi Townsend, who had to be taken off on a stretcher during the fixture against Derby County U21s: “Kadi went to the walk-in centre on Monday and it’s been confirmed as a meniscus injury, which is a lot better than we originally thought.
“We feared that it could have been an ACL injury, so the recovery time will be shorter than we initially thought, but there will be absolutely no rush to get her back to make sure that she does the rehab properly so that the injury doesn’t reoccur.”
Ahead of the clash with Belper, Andrea previewed the opposition, saying: “They’ve got a bunch of experienced players. Our average age is probably about 19-20 but with Belper, you’re looking at mid-20s to early 30s, so they’ll be a team of experienced players that have been in and around the game a long time.
“We’ve got a bunch of youth players that tactically are very good and won’t tire, so we’ll look to work on those advantages.”
Reflecting on the support at the recent run of away games, Andrea added: “The attendance was over 500, which is brilliant for a women’s game at a stadium and we’ve seen the same faces at the other away games too.
“With Chesterfield being away on Saturday at Exeter, if you do want to see local football and players wearing the Chesterfield badge then Shirebrook is the place to be.”
The women’s fixture against Belper Town takes place at Shirebrook Academy at 2pm on Sunday.
