Ewe Rams heading in right direction

DERBY County Ladies chief executive Duncan Gibb believes the positives outweigh the negatives in 2018 and says the club will continue to go build.

The Ewe Rams made a solid start to a season under manager Sam Griffiths, despite three consecutive defeats in November, and are sixth in the Premier League Northern Division with six wins and two draws from 12 matches.

“It has been a great start to the season and though we have had a little dip in November, we are in a great position to get our highest finish in what is such a tough league,” said Gibb.

“John Bennett set the tone for the club in his two seasons at the helm and Sam has continued to improve on the quality and professionalism we strived for. She has come in and impressed us with everything she has done.

“The squad has improved and we have a great core of players and we have had some fantastic moments already this season with them. We go into 2019 with a lot of hard work to do but in a fantastic position to achieve our goals.”

Off the pitch, the club had to adapt to the blow of missing out on a place in the new FA Women’s Championship but Gibb believes that, in hindsight, it was the right decision.

“We worked really hard on our bid and we had feedback that it was a great bid but other clubs were just further along in their journey and you can’t really complain about that, though giving us the FA Club of the Year award a few weeks later was brave from them, I must admit, especially as we weren’t expecting it.

“With what has happened since that decision with clubs dropping out and some struggling to keep afloat, maybe it was best for us to go the conventional route but now it means we need to build towards that and it’s tough.”