19th December 2020
Cheltenham Town Ladies will have to wait for another time to lock horns with Southampton FC, as the two clubs mutually agreed to postpone their FA Women’s National League fixture.
The two sides were originally set to clash at Tewkesbury School tomorrow, behind closed doors, but the introduction of southern regions to Tier 4, following a government announcement, has lead to the postponement of a few FA WNL games.
“It’s obviously not a great way to finish 2020 but player safety, staff safety, and that of match officials too all has to take precedence. Southampton are Tier 3, but Portsmouth is Tier 4, and with such close proximity, both sides have agreed to push the pause button on proceedings.” The club Head of PR & Media, Dan Lodge told ctlfc.com.
“We were hoping for a good game, and one final showdown to finish off the year, with the plans to stream it live on our Facebook page so the fans could enjoy it. It’s really disappointing for the fans, obviously, but safety must come first and we hope the supporters of both teams will understand and support the decision.
“After all, the reason we weren’t allowed to welcome fans in is because of health and safety, and with this new variant of Covid-19 that’s easier to transmit, making sure people are protected is now more paramount than it has ever been before. It’s just not worth risking player health, especially as they’re not professionals and a lot of our team are still quite young.”
The Robinesses will now turn their attention to the Vitality Women’s FA Cup on January 3rd, as they face Portsmouth Women at Westleigh Park. Cheltenham Town Ladies will provide further update on the development of this fixture when possible, as Portsmouth are now in Tier 4.
