Cheltenham Town Women captain Emily Owen on 75 appearances and hopes for the second half of season

Cheltenham Town Women captain Emily Owen says they know what they have to do to improve their league form ahead of Sunday's home clash with third-placed Ipswich Town.

Owen also reflected on her time at the club, having made her 75th appearance for the club during last weekend’s 7-0 win over Yeovil Town Women in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup.

The former Wolves, Aston Villa, Stoke City, Sheffield, Derby and West Bromwich Albon defender has 22 goals in her 75 appearances for the Robins, with five already this season, two of those in the league wins against MK Dons and Plymouth.

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“For me personally, it’s a massive milestone,” Owen said.

“I don’t think I’ve reached it before actually, but it’s nice to see I’m not getting on anyone’s nerves all the time and they still want me here! It’s really good and I’m really proud of it.”

Owen joined Cheltenham in January of 2022 and helped Tom Davies’ side secure promotion that year, a moment Owen cited as her favourite in a Cheltenham shirt.

“There’s no better feeling than that and I think especially because seasons can be quite long and all the travel, to get something from the end of it, you can’t beat it. It’s a great feeling.”

While Cheltenham haven’t won in the league since August, they have enjoyed a run in the FA Women’s National League Plate, drawing Stockport County Women in the quarter-finals, a run which included a fantastic 2-1 win against Owen’s former club Wolves Women in the second round.

“The cup runs, we’ve done really well in and worked really hard on those," Owen said.

“The last few league results obviously haven’t gone our way, and we’ve dropped a few points in places we should have won and we should have built on those points. We can’t keep dwelling on that though; we’ve just got to move forward.”

Cheltenham will play 22 league games in a season, and this weekend's match against Ipswich at Kayte Lane (2pm) will be the 11th fixture.

Owen said that in the second half of the season, Cheltenham just need to carry on playing the way they have done.

“Next half of the season, especially after Christmas when everyone comes back from a break, that’ll do us good," she said.

“We just have to keep working hard. We know what we have to do anyway, it’s just putting that into play on the weekend.”

Cheltenham are currently 10th in the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier Division, five points clear of the drop zone, but earned an impressive point against top-of-the-table Hashtag United in September.

Ipswich are a side in form, having put 25 goals past MK Dons in two weeks, beating them 13-0 in the league and 12-0 in the Women’s FA Cup.

Despite the Blues being unbeaten in the league, they have fallen to third. However, Owen knows they still pose a difficult test, but a result is possible.

“Ipswich are a good side and we know about them because we played them last season as well," she said.

"We will play our game and we know what we need to do and it’s just putting that into practice. We’ll come and put in a good performance and hopefully get a good result."