2015 Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. season

Doncaster Rovers Belles
2015 season
Chairman	Teresa Aitken
Manager	Glen Harris
Stadium	Keepmoat Stadium
WSL 2	2nd (promoted)
FA Cup	Fifth Round
WSL Cup	Group stage
Home colours	Away colours
	← 2014 2016 →

The 2015 season was Doncaster Rovers Belles' fifth season in the FA WSL, and their second season in the second tier of English women's football.

After the Belles narrowly missed out on promotion in the previous season, Gordon Staniforth resigned on 30 October 2014.^[1] Former Lincoln Ladies manager Glen Harris was appointed on December 8, 2014, beating competition from all over Europe; including Belgium, Croatia, Italy and the UK.^[2]

This season also saw the introduction of a new club crest, combining the old-style Doncaster Belles badge, with the more recently used Doncaster Rovers badge.^[3]

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ENG	Nicola Hobbs
2	DF	ENG	Lyndsey Cunningham
3	DF	ENG	Samantha Tierney
4	DF	ENG	Leandra Little (Captain)
5	DF	ENG	Rhiannon Roberts
6	MF	ENG	Kasia Lipka
7	DF	ENG	Molly Johnson
8	MF	ENG	Sue Smith
9	FW	ENG	Courtney Sweetman-Kirk
10	MF	ENG	Emily Roberts (on loan from Notts County)
11	MF	ENG	Bethany England


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
12	MF	ENG	Reanne Thomas
13	MF	ENG	Sophie Stamp
16	MF	ENG	Ashleigh Mills
17	FW	ENG	Nicole Dale
18	MF	ENG	Sophie Barker
22	GK	ENG	Danielle Hill
23	DF	ENG	Lauren Cresswell
24	MF	ENG	Hope Knight
—	GK	ENG	Megan Govier
—	FW	ENG	Jody Handley

Transfers

In

No.	Pos.	Name	Country	Transfer From	Date	Source
18	MF	Sophie Barker	ENG	Sheffield	13 January 2015	[1]
10	MF	Emily Roberts	ENG	Notts County (loan)	26 January 2015	[2]
—	FW	Jody Handley	ENG	Everton	28 January 2015	[3] Archived 2015-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
22	GK	Danielle Hill	ENG	Durham	29 January 2015	[4]

Out

No.	Pos.	Name	Country	Transfer To	Date	Source
10	MF	Millie Bright	ENG	Chelsea	27 November 2014	[5]
5	FW	Jessica Sigsworth	ENG	Notts County	6 January 2015	[6]
15	DF	Victoria Williams	ENG	Sunderland	February 2015	[7]^{[permanent dead link‍]}
14	FW	Lucy Sowerby	ENG	Bradford City	March 2015	[8] Archived 14 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine
—	FW	Jody Handley	ENG	Retired	6 May 2015	[9]

Statistics

As of 12 June 2015

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		WSL 2		FA Cup		WSL Cup
No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	ENG	Nicola Hobbs	11	0	9	0	2	0	0	0
2	DF	ENG	Lyndsey Cunningham	9	0	7	0	2	0	0	0
3	DF	ENG	Samantha Tierney	4	0	0+4	0	0	0	0	0
4	DF	ENG	Leandra Little	11	1	9	1	2	0	0	0
5	DF	ENG	Rhiannon Roberts	11	1	9	1	2	0	0	0
6	MF	ENG	Kasia Lipka	11	0	9	0	2	0	0	0
7	DF	ENG	Molly Johnson	4	0	1+2	0	0+1	0	0	0
8	MF	ENG	Sue Smith	11	7	9	5	2	2	0	0
9	FW	ENG	Courtney Sweetman-Kirk	11	9	9	7	2	2	0	0
10	MF	ENG	Emily Roberts (on loan from Notts County)	9	4	8	4	1	0	0	0
11	MF	ENG	Bethany England	10	5	8	4	2	1	0	0
12	MF	ENG	Reanne Thomas	7	0	1+5	0	0+1	0	0	0
13	MF	ENG	Sophie Stamp	5	0	0+5	0	0	0	0	0
14	FW	ENG	Lucy Sowerby	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
16	MF	ENG	Ashleigh Mills	2	0	1	0	0+1	0	0	0
17	FW	ENG	Nicole Dale	2	0	0+2	0	0	0	0	0
18	MF	ENG	Sophie Barker	11	1	9	1	2	0	0	0
22	GK	ENG	Danielle Hill	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
23	DF	ENG	Lauren Cresswell	9	0	4+3	0	2	0	0	0
24	MF	ENG	Hope Knight	8	0	5+2	0	1	0	0	0
–	GK	ENG	Megan Govier	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
–	FW	ENG	Jody Handley	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Players who left the club during the season:

Goals record

As of 12 June 2015

Rank	No.	Po.	Name	WSL 2	FA Cup	Total
1	9	FW	Courtney Sweetman-Kirk	7	2	9
2	8	MF	Sue Smith	5	2	7
3	11	MF	Bethany England	4	1	5
4	10	MF	Emily Roberts	4	0	4
5	18	MF	Sophie Barker	1	0	1
	4	DF	Leandra Little	1	0	1
	5	DF	Rhiannon Roberts	1	0	1
Own Goals				0	0	0
Total				23	5	28

Matches

Pre-Season Friendlies

On 15 January 2015 Arsenal Ladies announced that they would play a friendly against the Belles, in a clash of two former heavyweights.^[4] On 28 January, Liverpool Ladies became the second club to announce a friendly against Doncaster.^[5]

15 February 2015 Friendly	Arsenal Ladies	4–1	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Hatfield
14:00 GMT	Nobbs 53', 80' Sanderson 64' Sampson 83'	Report	Barker 60'	Stadium: Hertfordshire Sports Village

14 March 2015 Friendly	Liverpool Ladies	v	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Widnes
19:00 GMT				Stadium: Halton Stadium

FA Cup

On 12 January 2015 the draw for the Third Round Proper of the FA Women's Cup was made. The Belles were drawn at home to London Bees, with the match to be played on 1 February 2015.^[6] This fixture was then rearranged to be played a day earlier on 31 January.^[7] In the Fourth Round, Doncaster were drawn away to either Bradford City Women or FC Reedswood, depending on who won the postponed tie.^[8] The postponed match was won by Bradford, with the Fourth Round tie to be played on 8 March.^[9]

31 January 2015 Third Round	Doncaster Rovers Belles	3–0	London Bees	Doncaster
18:30 GMT	England 53' Sweetman-Kirk 62' Smith 79'	Report		Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

8 March 2015 Fourth Round	Bradford City Women	1–2	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Bradford
14:00 GMT				Stadium: Dennyfield

22 March 2015 Fifth Round

Manchester City

3–1

Doncaster Rovers Belles

FA WSL Cup

Rovers were drawn in Group 2. They play 5 matches in the group.

Group Stage

Doncaster Rovers Belles

0–3

Manchester City

30 July 2015 Group Stage

Doncaster Rovers Belles

v

Liverpool

16 August 2015 Group Stage

Everton

v

Doncaster Rovers Belles

27 August 2015 Group Stage

Doncaster Rovers Belles

v

Durham

30 August 2015 Group Stage

Sunderland

v

Doncaster Rovers Belles

FA WSL 2

On 26 January 2015, the fixtures for the coming season's WSL were released, with the Belles starting their fixtures at home to Durham Women.^[10]

19 March 2015 1	Doncaster Rovers Belles	3-0	Durham Women	Doncaster
19:45 GMT				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

28 March 2015 2	Doncaster Rovers Belles	2-1	Yeovil Town Ladies	Doncaster
18:30 GMT				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

5 April 2015 3	Aston Villa Ladies	0-5	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Sutton Coldfield
14:00 BST				Stadium: Sutton Coldfield Central Ground

18 April 2015 4	Everton Ladies	1-1	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Widnes
18:30 BST				Stadium: Halton Stadium

25 April 2015 5	Doncaster Rovers Belles	2-1	Aston Villa Ladies	Doncaster
18:30 BST				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

9 May 2015 6	Doncaster Rovers Belles	5-1	London Bees	Doncaster
18:30 BST				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

16 May 2015 7	Doncaster Rovers Belles	0-3	Reading Women	Doncaster
18:30 BST				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

21 May 2015 8	Durham Women	0-2	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Durham
19:30 BST				Stadium: New Ferens Park

31 May 2015 9	Yeovil Town Ladies	0-3	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Sherborne
14:00 BST				Stadium: Raleigh Grove

11 July 2015 10	Doncaster Rovers Belles	5-0	Watford Ladies	Doncaster
18:30 BST				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

19 July 2015 11	Oxford United Women	2-5	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Abingdon-on-Thames
14:00 BST				Stadium: Northcourt Road

26 July 2015 12	Doncaster Rovers Belles	v	Everton Ladies	Doncaster
14:00 BST				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

9 August 2015 13	Watford Ladies	v	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Berkhamsted
14:00 BST				Stadium: Broadwater

23 August 2015 14	Millwall Lionesses	v	Doncaster Rovers Belles	London
14:00 BST				Stadium: The Den

5 September 2015 15	Reading Women	v	Doncaster Rovers Belles	Farnborough
18:00 BST				Stadium: Cherrywood Road

27 September 2015 16	London Bees	v	Doncaster Rovers Belles	London
14:00 BST				Stadium: The Hive Stadium

3 October 2015 17	Doncaster Rovers Belles	v	Oxford United Women	Doncaster
18:30 BST				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

18 October 2015 18	Doncaster Rovers Belles	v	Millwall Lionesses	Doncaster
14:00 BST				Stadium: Keepmoat Stadium

References

^ "CLUB STATEMENT: Staniforth Resigns". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 30 October 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
^ "STATEMENT: Harris Appointed". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 8 December 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
^ "CLUB: New Badge Unveiled". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 27 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
^ "Pre-season schedule announced". Arsenal Ladies F.C. 15 January 2015. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
^ "Reigning champions to play Belles". Liverpool Ladies F.C. 28 January 2015. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
^ "The draw for The FA Women's Cup was made at Wembley". The FA. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
^ "FIXTURES: London Bees Date Change". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
^ "Villa will meet Yeovil in FA Women's Cup Fourth Round". The FA. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
^ "FA CUP: Bradford Trip Up Next". 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
^ "Belles begin promotion push at home". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 26 January 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

[1] "CLUB STATEMENT: Staniforth Resigns". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 30 October 2014. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

[2] "STATEMENT: Harris Appointed". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 8 December 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

[3] "CLUB: New Badge Unveiled". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 27 January 2015. Archived from the original on 29 January 2015. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

[4] "Pre-season schedule announced". Arsenal Ladies F.C. 15 January 2015. Archived from the original on 27 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

[5] "Reigning champions to play Belles". Liverpool Ladies F.C. 28 January 2015. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

[6] "The draw for The FA Women's Cup was made at Wembley". The FA. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

[7] "FIXTURES: London Bees Date Change". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 21 January 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

[8] "Villa will meet Yeovil in FA Women's Cup Fourth Round". The FA. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.

[9] "FA CUP: Bradford Trip Up Next". 8 February 2015. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.

[10] "Belles begin promotion push at home". Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. 26 January 2014. Archived from the original on 14 June 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

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