Socrates Ladies FC

📰 NEWS ROUND BY IJ

ZOE’S BARNESTORMER!

Teenager midfielder Zoe Barnes marked her first (and possibly last) season with Socrates by walking off with three awards at the club’s annual presentation evening - and she wasn’t even there!

Dad Martin collected them for her as the 18-year-old was dancing the night away at her Forge Valley school prom.

She was departing coach Pepe La Rezza’s pick as Player of the Season, recipient of the Fountain Cup, was chosen as the Most Promising Newcomer and also won the prize for the Most Player of the Match awards (4).

Zoe very nearly took a fourth award but was beaten by one vote for Players’ Player of the Year. That went to central defender Joely Sykes.

Pepe himself received a special trophy to mark his three years as club coach.

Winner of the Chairperson’s award for the second year running was captain and goalkeeper Ella Williams who joined the club at the age of 10 in 2003 and has made over 400 appearances.

The Golden Boot went to another newcomer Carly Armsby who was top scorer with 8 goals in 18 games. Supporter of the Year was Harley Stringfellow.

Contribution to the Club medals were presented to Pepe, Ella, Paula Higgins, Sally Lowe, Nicole Bramley, Becky Hargreaves, Paul Williams, Demi Cassinelli, Sophie Shemeld and Shammi Ramlakhan.

Socrates finished eighth out of 12 in Open Age 2, winning six of their 22 matches, drawing five and losing 11.

**Thanks to the Lord Nelson pub on Arundel Street, Sheffield for providing the room for the event.

📰 NEWS ROUND BY IJ

PROMOTION FOR PEPE

Pepe (Giuseppe) La Rezza, who left Socrates after three years as coach, has joined Bristol City Women as full-time Secretary.

City, who finished fourth in WSL2 last season, and play at Ashton Gate , have ambitions to play in the WSL premier division in the near future.

So the Italian, who has worked for the FA and the National League, maintains his links with women’s football although in an administrative capacity for now.

He hasn’t completely turned his back on coaching though and is in the process of taking the UEFA Level 3 course.

Paul Williams returns for a third spell as Pepe’s replacement on a one-year ‘contract’.

Training will start later than usual , partly due to the World Cup, with the first session at Sheffield University’s Goodwin Sports Centre, booked for Tuesday July 28 from 8-9pm.

Two friendlies have been arranged with Brinsworth Whitehill on Sunday Aug 16 and Kiveton Park on Sunday Aug 23, both away.

Open Age 2 fixtures begin on Sunday Sept 6.

Can you help Socrates start the season strong? We're looking for sponsorship for our 2026/27 campaign.
We're trying a new approach this year with a 3 tiered system to allow more businesses to help our independent ladies team.

Why help?
- You'd get exposure on our social media that we continue to grow and engage with.
- You'd be helping an incredible group continue to enjoy and play together, developing on what we started last season.
- The hope is to be able to subsidise some of the players fees to allow more women to enjoy playing the beautiful game, give training opportunities within the team and provide better equipment so we can play at our best.

If you, or anyone you know, who would want to become a Socrates sponsor, send us a dm or email [email protected] to discuss further.

Thanks 🙏
SLFC

📰 MATCH REPORT BY IJ

SHWGL
Open Age 2
Sunday 26/4/26

MISSED CHANCES ‘MAIN’ REASON FOR DEFEAT

SOCRATES 1 ROSSINGTON MAIN 3
Kirwin pen 83. Restill 33,70 Vickers 80

The result of this match on a rock-hard Thurcroft pitch was decided in a 10-minute spell early in the second half in which three golden opportunities for Socrates were squandered.

In fact, the nearest Socrates came to scoring was in the 18th minute when the always impressive Zoe Barnes put Carly Armsby through. Her shot hit a post when the home side were on top.

But it was the visitors who took the lead after 37 minutes through Kym Restill from what was a ‘nothing’ ball which no one in Socrates’ defence challenged. They just stood and watched as the goal was scored.

Changing ends 1-0 down but with still everything to play for, the trio of chances came in an eight minute period. They were all one-on-ones with goalkeeper Megan Clement.

Unfortunately for us, Megan made a good save to stop one and the other two were off target.

Kim Restill made Socrates pay in the 70th minute by scoring her second with a well-placed shot from 25 yards well out of Ella Williams’ reach.

Shortly afterwards, Zoe, Carly and Becky Hargreaves combined in a rare passing move and had an appeal for a handball in the penalty area turned down.

Carly was just wide with another effort provided by Zoe’s assist again. But Sophie Vickers put the result seemingly beyond doubt with a third for Rossington and her eighth of the season in the 80th minute.

Socrates weren’t quite finished though and when a second appeal for a penalty in the 83rd minute was successful Abbey Kirwin, who had had a good game, calmly converted.

This was their final match of the season and their fifth defeat in the last six games. They had started the afternoon in 7th position with Rossington in 9th but by the end they’d swapped places, though both were safe from relegation.

The result was particularly disappointing for coach Giuseppe (Pepe) La Rezza who is leaving after three years in charge.

He’s been a popular appointment and the club thanks him for all his hard work and wishes him well for the future wherever that might lead.

His cheerful personality will be greatly missed.

SOCRATES’ PLAYER OF THE MATCH: ABBEY KIRWIN (special mention: Zoe Barnes, Becky Hargreaves)

FOOTNOTE: Just to put the record straight, the Thurcroft Hub is home to 17 men’s, boys and women’s teams. There are five grass pitches of varying size. It was famously described by someone from Rossington as ‘just a field with cow pats’.

We can confirm that this has never been home to animals of the bovine variety and only the occasional dog on a lead has been spotted.

At £80 per match, including changing rooms, it’s the best value for any hub in the region.

We hope you enjoyed your visit and have a good summer. Thank you for your support.

Yesterday's results obviously didn't go the way we hoped and therefore we ended the season with a loss. Rossington on the other hand were able to celebrate like they'd won the league after the 3 points secured safety from relegation - fair play to them.
It was a glorious day but a bouncy, bobbly, rock hard pitch didn't play into our strengths and we weren't able to capitalise on the few chances we had. It was also Coach Pepe's last match on the managerial team for Socrates so maybe the players could see properly through their tear filled eyes. We wish him all the best for his future 💜
All details, as per, in IJs match report on our page in the morning.
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⚽ Abbey Kirwin
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Player of the match: Abbey Kirwin

A gorgeous day for our last game of the season 😎
Should be a good one too against Rossington Main who will be keen to take all 3 points but we'll be trying our best to spoil that.
If you can, we would love a great turn out of supporters. And really, is there a better way to spend a Sunday afternoon? I didn't think so. See you there, 2pm!

📰 MATCH REPORT BY IJ

SHWGL
Open Age 2
Sunday 19/4/26

OWN GOAL SEPARATES SOCRATES FROM CHAMPS

SOCRATES 0 BARNSLEY FC 1
Gerrietty og 51

It was the third time in the last five games that Socrates had conceded an own goal but on this occasion it cost them the match which was particularly unjust.

Barnsley had already clinched promotion and become champions by winning 18 of their 20 games and collecting 52 points. They had scored 89 goals in the process so it was some achievement to prevent them putting the ball in the net themselves.

Top scorer Charli Hayward with an incredible 34 goals was anonymous as a second half substitute.

Some might say that they lacked intensity in their play having already achieved their objective of going up but that wasn’t apparent from the constant goading of their motormouth coach Kev Moreton on the touchline.

Last time they met in February, Barnsley won 5-1 with two penalties but two months later they played well enough to take a point and had chances to seal an unexpected victory.

The Reds, playing in white (a pale imitation ?) could have gone ahead in the 16th minute when ‘keeper Ella Williams did well to watch a shot from Hannah Ross through a crowd of players.

But Amber Wilson nearly scored for Socrates from range after 33 minutes, Holly Dunsford fi***ng the ball over the bar. Shortly afterwards Laurel Seed almost netted in a goalmouth scramble.

The sides changed ends goalless but with the home side having the edge.

Socrates had seven players missing but their defence, with Nicole Bramley, Paula Higgins and Kayleigh Gerrietty recalled, were making up for the absentees. Such a pity then that Kayleigh turned the ball past Ella in the 51st minute.

Beth Sykes and Jordanne Sykes were also rising to the occasion, joining Zoe Barnes to bolster midfield.

If only the referee had given a penalty when Lauren was elbowed in the face, justice might have been.

Ella denied Krizia Firth with a good save before Amber had another chance. With time running out for Socrates to equalise, the goalie went up into the attack at a corner in the final minute, as they do.

It came to nothing, leaving Ella to spring back to an unguarded goal with Molly Waite in hot pursuit. A full length dive by Socrates’ captain turned Molly’s shot round the post in a dramatic finale, applauded by players and supporters from both sides.

⚽️ SOCRATES’ PLAYER OF THE MATCH: BETH SYKES (special mention: Ella Williams, Jordanne Taaffe)

FINAL MATCH: Next Sunday v Rossington Main(h) ko 2pm

FOOTNOTE: Barnsley’s success is remarkable as it’s a new team, following the former development squad disbanding at the end of last season for financial reasons.

As coach Kev Moreton, charming away from the field of play, explained, "We had to start again. Eight of today’s squad are teenagers. They’ve certainly overachieved".

So much so that they even tried to bypass promotion to Division One and go straight into the regional league, an application which has been rejected, rightly.

“We think we could have competed at that level but we are on our own with no external financial help”.

Welcome to our world, Kev!

An absolute battle of a game today. Losing all 3 points to a bobbly scrap in the 6 yard box feels absolutely gutting. 0-0 would've been a fair result but we even had chances to take the lead!
On paper, Barnsley should've wiped the floor with us after winning the league, but every single player in purple gave 100%, making their passing game difficult and snuffing out all their chances.
Honestly, huge credit to absolutely every one of them 👏
You can read all about it on Facebook on Tuesday morning.
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Player of the match: Beth Sykes

BIG GAME TODAY 🙌

We face Barnsley Women who are top of the league have already been crowned champions. We're hoping to spoil the party a little and give them a really good show today though.
Park the bus? 🚌
All our attack? 💪
Sunbathe? 😎

Come and see for yourselves!

A few night games have happened since our last post (sorry - too busy personal life 😂)

You can read all about them over on the page because IJ is more organised than me!

Back on it today though. Details up next!