NEW GIRL ANN-MARIE INSPIRES FULHAM BOUNCE-BACK
Newly signed striker Ann-Marie Heatherson was the key figure as Fulham made an immediate return to the top flight following their 2006-07 relegation.
Heatherson was quite a capture for the Cottagers, the then 23-year-old forward having spent the previous seven years at Charlton Athletic before the women’s team was suddenly and controversially folded by their men’s Premiership parent club in the 2007 close season.
Heatherson learned about the shock decision while playing during the summer for Icelandic club Stjarnan on a player-exchange agreement with Charlton. “As soon as I found out Charlton had folded our team,” she recalls, “I came back to look for a club to join.
“I’d gone to Iceland because I’d lost my confidence after a lot of injuries and illness, and when I came back I wanted to drop down from the National Division - and in any case I wasn’t convinced that anyone from the top league would take me.”
If Heatherson was still lacking in confidence as the Southern Division kicked off, it didn’t show - she made an explosive start with six goals in her first three outings.
Though the opening game of the campaign ended in a 2-1 defeat at Portsmouth, who had finished the three previous seasons at the division’s runners-up, Fulham then won nine successive league games.
At the half-way stage of the season they were three points clear of Pompey and a further five ahead of Millwall Lionesses and Barnet, the Bees having played a game more than the 11 contested by the other three.
Portsmouth’s hopes of making it a fourth-time-lucky promotion bid faded, collecting only 17 points from the 33 on offer in the second half of the campaign to finish fourth in the table.
Millwall produced the strongest challenge to Fulham as the title race unfolded, but the Cottagers - after a stutter in the closing stages of the run-in which saw them take just three points from four games - finished with a flourish to beat Reading Royals 5-0 in their last match.
Heatherson had gone through the 20-goal barrier to earn herself the division’s Top Goalscorer award, but despite the chance to move back up to the top flight with Fulham she chose to stay put in the Southern Division by signing for the Cottagers’ London rivals Millwall Lionesses.
“I’d had a really fun season and I was prepared to go up to the top division,” she says, “but my old (Charlton) manager Keith Boanas had taken over at Millwall and I decided to sign for him.”
So the Cottagers had lost their main goalscorer; but at the other end of the final 2007-08 table Reading Royals and AFC Bath had lost their FA WPL status through relegation.
It was a right royal drop for bottom of the table Reading: a dreadful season for the Berkshire club ended with every single match lost, just eight goals scored and a massive 183 conceded at an average of more than eight per game.
Even second bottom AFC Bath took it out on Reading, trouncing them 12-0 in the opening month of the campaign. That was one of nine games in which Reading’s opponents hit double figures.
For AFC Bath, based at the University of Bath and re-named from Bristol City after the women’s team - like Charlton - had been disbanded by their (men’s) parent club, this was their only season as an FA WPL team.
FINAL TABLE
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fulham | 22 | 15 | 5 | 2 | 70 | 19 | 50 | +51 |
| 2 | Millwall Lionesses | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 50 | 21 | 44 | +29 |
| 3 | Barnet | 22 | 13 | 4 | 5 | 61 | 21 | 43 | +40 |
| 4 | Portsmouth | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 63 | 26 | 42 | +37 |
| 5 | West Ham United | 22 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 63 | 46 | 36 | +17 |
| 6 | Crystal Palace | 22 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 45 | 30 | 34 | +15 |
| 7 | Colchester United | 22 | 10 | 1 | 11 | 51 | 54 | 31 | -3 |
| 8 | Keynsham Town | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 51 | 31 | 30 | +20 |
| 9 | Newquay | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 50 | 45 | 29 | +5 |
| 10 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 22 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 35 | 57 | 20 | -22 |
| 11 | AFC Team Bath | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 39 | 53 | 19 | -14 |
| 12 | Reading Royals | 22 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 8 | 183 | 0 | -175 |
FA WOMEN’S PREMIER LEAGUE SOUTHERN DIVISION RESULTS 2007-08
19/8/2007
AFC Team Bath 0-1 West Ham United
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-2 Barnet
Crystal Palace 2-4 Colchester United
Keynsham Town 1-1 Portsmouth
Millwall Lionesses 2-0 Truro City
26/8/2007
Barnet 1-1 Keynsham Town
Crystal Palace 3-1 AFC Team Bath
Portsmouth 2-1 Fulham
Reading Royals 1-5 Brighton & Hove Albion
Truro City 5-0 Colchester United
West Ham United 0-2 Millwall Lionesses
2/9/2007
Brighton & Hove Albion 3-6 West Ham United
Colchester United 0-2 Portsmouth
Keynsham Town 2-2 Crystal Palace
Truro City 9-0 Reading Royals
9/9/2007
Barnet 1-3 Colchester United
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 Crystal Palace
Portsmouth 2-1 Millwall Lionesses
Reading Royals 0-12 AFC Team Bath
Truro City 0-2 Keynsham Town
West Ham United 0-8 Fulham
12/9/2007
Colchester United 1-2 West Ham United
Crystal Palace 1-1 Millwall Lionesses
Reading Royals 1-13 Keynsham Town
Barnet 0-1 Fulham
13/9/2007
Portsmouth 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
16/9/2007
Barnet 4-0 Portsmouth
Colchester United 2-5 Keynsham Town
Crystal Palace 4-0 Reading Royals
Millwall Lionesses 4-2 AFC Team Bath
West Ham United 3-5 Truro City
Fulham 6-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
19/9/2007
AFC Team Bath 2-4 Colchester United
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-3 Millwall Lionesses
Keynsham Town 1-2 Fulham
Portsmouth 2-0 West Ham United
Reading Royals 0-6 Barnet
Truro City 3-2 Crystal Palace
7/10/2007
AFC Team Bath 5-2 Reading Royals
Colchester United 0-2 Barnet
Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Keynsham Town 0-3 Truro City
Millwall Lionesses 3-2 Portsmouth
Fulham 3-2 West Ham United
10/10/2007
AFC Team Bath 3-5 Truro City
Brighton & Hove Albion 3-6 Portsmouth
11/10/2007
Millwall Lionesses 1-2 Crystal Palace
14/10/2007
AFC Team Bath 0-4 Barnet
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-4 Keynsham Town
Fulham 14-0 Reading Royals
21/10/2007
Barnet 5-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Millwall Lionesses 2-3 Colchester United
24/10/2007
Fulham 3-0 Barnet
28/10/2007
AFC Team Bath 2-3 Brighton & Hove Albion
Colchester United 1-2 Fulham
Portsmouth 10-0 Reading Royals
Truro City 1-6 Barnet
West Ham United 1-0 Crystal Palace
4/11/2007
Colchester United 2-4 Brighton & Hove Albion
Keynsham Town 8-0 Reading Royals
WFC Fulham 3-0 AFC Team Bath
Millwall Lionesses 2-1 West Ham United
11/11/2007
Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Truro City
Barnet 5-1 Crystal Palace
Keynsham Town 0-2 West Ham United
Portsmouth 5-0 AFC Team Bath
Reading Royals 1-6 Colchester United
Fulham 2-2 Millwall Lionesses
18/11/2007
AFC Team Bath 2-1 Keynsham Town
Crystal Palace 1-2 Fulham
West Ham United 12-0 Reading Royals
25/11/2007
AFC Team Bath 0-2 Millwall Lionesses
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 Fulham
Keynsham Town 1-3 Colchester United
Reading Royals 0-12 Crystal Palace
16/12/2007
West Ham United 0-3 Barnet
13/1/2008
AFC Team Bath 1-1 Portsmouth
Millwall Lionesses 1-1 Fulham
27/1/2008
Colchester United 1-3 Crystal Palace
Truro City 1-3 Millwall Lionesses
3/2/2008
Barnet 1-1 Millwall Lionesses
Keynsham Town 4-1 AFC Team Bath
Reading Royals 3-10 West Ham United
Fulham 2-1 Crystal Palace
10/2/2008
Brighton & Hove Albion 4-0 Reading Royals
Colchester United 3-0 Truro City
Keynsham Town 1-1 Barnet
AFC Team Bath 1-0 Crystal Palace
17/2/2008
Southern Division
Barnet 5-1 AFC Team Bath
Brighton & Hove Albion 2-3 Colchester United
Truro City 1-6 Fulham
24/2/2008
Colchester United 2-2 AFC Team Bath
Crystal Palace 2-1 Portsmouth
Keynsham Town 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
Millwall Lionesses 6-0 Reading Royals
Fulham 3-1 Truro City
27/2/2008
West Ham United 8-1 Colchester United
2/3/2008
Brighton & Hove Albion 0-1 AFC Team Bath
Colchester United 1-2 Millwall Lionesses
Crystal Palace 2-1 West Ham United
Portsmouth 1-2 Barnet
Reading Royals 0-10 Truro City
Fulham 1-1 Keynsham Town
9/3/2008
AFC Team Bath 1-1 Fulham
Barnet 8-0 Reading Royals
Millwall Lionesses 0-2 Keynsham Town
Portsmouth 0-3 Crystal Palace
Truro City 1-4 West Ham United
30/3/2008
Truro City 0-0 AFC Team Bath
West Ham United 1-2 Keynsham Town
13/4/2008
Colchester United 7-0 Reading Royals
Millwall Lionesses 0-0 Barnet
Truro City 1-2 Brighton & Hove Albion
West Ham United 3-2 AFC Team Bath
Fulham 1-1 Portsmouth
16/4/2008
Reading Royals 0-10 Portsmouth
17/4/2008
Barnet 1-2 West Ham United
20/4/2008
Reading Royals 0-7 Millwall Lionesses
Truro City 1-0 Portsmouth
West Ham United 3-1 Brighton & Hove Albion
Fulham 2-3 Colchester United
23/4/2008
Crystal Palace 0-3 Barnet
Reading Royals 0-5 Fulham
27/4/2008
Crystal Palace 1-0 Truro City
Millwall Lionesses 3-0 Brighton & Hove Albion
Portsmouth 3-1 Keynsham Town
4/5/2008
Barnet 1-2 Truro City
Keynsham Town 0-2 Millwall Lionesses
West Ham United 1-4 Portsmouth
11/5/2008
Crystal Palace 0-0 Keynsham Town
Portsmouth 3-0 Truro City
18/5/2008
Portsmouth 4-1 Colchester United
