FAWNL: Weekend in numbers

Photo: Mark Hempel

We take a look at the numbers that made up the weekend’s FA Women’s National League action.

From the obvious to the obscure, we pick out some of the numbers that caught our eye from the latest round of fixtures in the FA Women’s National League.

12 – Up the Reds

Lois Daniels’ Barnsley have excelled in the early stages of the 2022/23 season to find themselves an extremely impressive 12 points better off in FAWNL Division One North than at the same stage of the last campaign, with a record of four wins and a draw.

The Reds’ fine run of form has seen Daniels named as the FAWNL Division One Manager of the Month for August and helped Barnsley climb to the top of the table, three points clear of Newcastle United in second place.

120 – GOAAAAAL!

The ball hit the back of the net 120 times over 32 FAWNL matches at the weekend – an average of 3.75 goals per game.

Goals scored by division:

Northern Premier Division – 21
Southern Premier Division – 12
Division One North – 21
Division One Midlands – 28
Division One South East – 12
Division One South West – 26

22.7 – Almost 1/4 of 2022/23 done for some

The season still feels like it’s in its infancy. And yet, for the clubs that have played five games, almost one-quarter (22.7% to be exact) of the league season has already been completed.

Depressing thought, eh? Sorry folks.

915 – Big crowd in W12

QPR recorded the second biggest crowd (behind Newcastle United) in the FA Women’s National League at the weekend as 915 fans were on hand to witness Norwich City beat the R’s 0-2 at Loftus Road, with goals from Kathryn Stanley and Megan Todd to clinch the victory for the Canaries.

A disappointing result on an otherwise memorable afternoon for Steve Quashie’s side.

2 – Huge point for Ricay

Billericay Town frustrated Oxford United to become only the second team in over one thousand days to leave Court Place Farm with any spoils as Beau Parker scored a second-half equaliser for the Blues to cancel out Leah Burridge’s earlier effort to send the Essex side home with a valuable point.

1 – Moneys on the money

Moneyfields remain the only newly-promoted side yet to experience defeat in 2022/23 — something that should come as little surprise after Karl Watson’s side went unbeaten for the whole of last season to clinch the SRWFL Premier Division crown and promotion to the Women’s National League.

5 – Zero in five for five

The difficult start to the season continued for five clubs at the weekend, as Loughborough Lightning, Northampton Town, Merseyrail, Larkhall Athletic, and AFC St Austell all remained winless in five attempts after the latest round of fixtures.

16 – Shutouts for 16

Exactly half of the teams that competed (excluding the abandoned match between Hounslow and Wymondham Town) at the weekend held firm to keep clean sheets, as AFC Fylde, Brighouse Town, Plymouth Argyle, Ipswich Town, London Bees, Watford, Doncaster Rovers Belles, Sheffield FC, Stourbridge, Durham Cestria, Stockport County, Hashtag United, AFC Wimbledon, London Seaward, Norwich City, and Cardiff City all recorded shutout wins.

4 – Four on the spin

After getting off to a bit of a faltering start on the opening day of the new campaign, Hashtag United, Wolves, and Stourbridge are currently riding the longest active win streaks in the Women’s National League with four straight wins.