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In-form Battle raring to go in first full season for the Reds

Eight goals from her first two games of the new season has seen striker Jess Battle start as she left off last campaign. After a successful first pre-season with the Reds after joining from AFC Fylde in January, Battle found the net on nineteen occasions in just nine games as FC went 9/9 in the summer months!

It certainly wasn’t just pre-season form either as our no.9 has already scored eight times in the first two competitive games of the season; scoring four in the 13-1 FA Cup win over Altrincham FC Ladies before grabbing another four in the 17-0 opening day league win over City of Liverpool last Sunday. The goals in pre-season have pleased the striker but she is even more delighted having been able to take them into the season and get off to a flying start in the goals column. "Obviously scoring a lot in pre-season, I was a little worried that I may have hit my peak too early and not in the games where it really matters. So it’s been a massive relief to have scored goals early on in the season".

Despite being in scintillating form at the back end of last season after her mid-season move to Broadhurst, Jess has yet to experience a full season here at FC and therefore is brimming with anticipation for the next few months in a Red shirt.

"I can’t wait! I’ve enjoyed [playing] football with this team, more than I have in a while. Coming in January, I enjoyed the back end of last season. Luke [Podmore] has been a massive influence and has just built my confidence up to the point where I’m happily not just playing but scoring goals too - which is what I want to do!"

Even though Battle has eight goals in two games, that isn’t even half of what the team have scored as a whole and she insists that it’s a good thing to see others scoring around her. "It takes the pressure off massively. If it happened to be just me scoring and I wasn’t getting on the score-sheet, I would feel like I’ve let the team down. I think we had about five [scorers] in the Altrincham game and obviously with Kirsty [Chambers] getting four too, it helps out a lot and continues to take the pressure off".

Ahead of playing FA Cup football once again away at Wigan tomorrow, Jess recalled the 1st Qualifying Round win over Altrincham that got the Reds into tomorrow’s second round tie just two weeks ago. It was a game our no.9 got her first four goals of the season in and recollects it as a very positive one for the team. "It was the best possible way to start the season, we couldn’t have asked for anything better really on that day. The only downer was the fact that we let a goal in but the team performance was really good and we all fought to the end doing what we do best; scoring lots of goals!"

Since then, last weekend’s 17-0 opening day league win was a pretty special game for Jess. Scoring the opener inside 36 seconds before completing a 31 minute hat-trick and then getting four goals for the game overall rewarded her with the Player of the Match award! She put the explosive start to the season down to the quality of the pre-season preparations. "I think that the pre-season preparations were the best we’ve had yet and the training sessions have played a crucial part in ensuring myself and the team have started the season on the front foot and ready to win".

"We’ve been working hard throughout pre-season and training sessions since to ensure that we are in a good place to start the season", she added.

When Jess was at her rampant best during last weekend’s 17-0 win, we interestingly had a tweet come in from one supporter which asked if she could get 100 goals for the season...After eight from two games, what did Jess think of that and does she set herself goal targets for the season as a striker?

"I do set myself [goal] targets as something to strive towards, maybe 100 is too optimistic though but I’ll give it a try! No but, instead of a yearly target, I tend to just set myself targets game by game depending on the opposition. I’d love to score in every game so I go into each and every game setting myself that as a target. However, I think assists and creating goals for my team-mates are just as important too, so I tend to set myself assist targets too!"

After a faultless first two performances in the season, Battle is raring to go again tomorrow and stresses that it will be an honour to play in the FA Cup for the second time in the space of two weeks. "It’s a massive privilege on a personal note for me to play in the FA Cup! As a player, if I could chose any trophy to win in my career it would of course be that one. It’s such a special competition and well-known all over the world. I think that with the team we have, it’s at its strongest yet and with the best possible management I’m hoping we can go far in the competition this year!"

You can see Jess and the Reds in FA Cup action tomorrow as we travel to Wigan Athletic LFC in the 2nd Qualifying Round of the SSE Women’s FA Cup! The game will be played at Billinge Sports Centre, Carr Mill Road, Billinge (WN5 7TY) and will be a 2pm KO!

We hope to see you there!

By Mikey Partington


First Posted ~ 19:45 Sat 16 Sep 2017
News ID ~ 7592
Last Updated ~ 00:47 Tue 16 Feb 2021