After a long summer the FAWNL Northern and Southern Premier Divisions finally got underway last weekend with 39 goals across 12 games, and not a single goalless draw to be seen! Here we take a look at a few of the big numbers from Gameweek 1, and look ahead to Gameweek 2.
Mixed fortunes for the promoted sides
Two of the biggest results from the opening weekend came in the Southern Premier Division with Fulham and Swindon Town both securing opening day victories. Fulham scored the latest goal of the afternoon on 90+4 to secure a 1-0 win against Portsmouth – extending their unbeaten streak in the league to 48 games against a team who were playing 2 leagues above them, in WSL2, last season.
Meanwhile, Plymouth Argyle hoped to go up to WSL2 but missed out on promotion in the playoff. They would have planned to get off to a winning start away to newly promoted Swindon Town but let a 1-2 lead at half time slip, losing 4-2, with Swindon getting 4 different names on the scoresheet and finding themselves 2nd in the Southern Premier Division at the end of the afternoon.
Amongst the other newly promoted sides Norwich City and Huddersfield Town played out a 1-1 draw, whilst Peterborough United had a rude awakening, losing 0-5 away to Rugby Borough who will be delighted with their high-scoring opening weekend and their position at the top of the Northern Premier Division, having previously not scored more than 3 times in a league game since their 0-4 demolition of Hull City away, in November 2025.
Finally amongst the newly promoted sides, Boldmere St Michaels ended Middlesbrough’s 5 game unbeaten run in the league to get their Tier 3 campaign underway with a 1-0 win.
The other key results
It wasn’t just amongst the newly promoted sides where big results were the order of the day. Having been 1-1 at half time (the scoreline when the 2 teams met on the final day of last season), Liverpool Feds scored 2 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half on their way to a 5-1 win against Derby County.
In the Southern Premier Division, Exeter City were 0-4 down to Oxford United within 38 minutes, a scoreline which remained unchanged until the final whistle and put Oxford United top of the league.
Gameweek 2
Opening weekend is always a great chance to see how the season might play out, but Gameweek 2 will be an opportunity to see if clubs can build on those results and establish themselves as contenders for this season. Having scored 5 on the opening day, Rugby Borough travel to Derby County, who conceded 5, so this game has the potential for a lot of goals. Concerningly for Derby, last season their home form was actually worse than their away form, with only 2 of their 6 wins coming on home turf.
Liverpool Feds play away to Peterborough United as they hope to secure 2 league wins in a row for the first time since September 2025. Meanwhile, Peterborough will be hoping to put last weekends humiliation behind them as they return to their home fortress – a ground where they won all 11 league games and only conceded 3 times on their way to the FAWNL Division One Midlands title last season.
Stoke City are the only team across Tier 3 to open their season with 2 consecutive home games, and will be hoping they can secure another 3 points at the bet365 Stadium against newly promoted Boldmere St Michaels. Having scored 2 on the opening weekend, and having averaged 1.9 goals per game at home last season, Stoke will be hoping to add to their goal tally – but with both teams having kept a clean sheet on the opening weekend it could be a tight affair.
Stadium Talking Points
In the Southern Premier Division two of the big numbers this weekend could be attendance figures, with Portsmouth Women playing their first Tier 3 game at Fratton Park. For the second weekend in a row they’ll be playing a newly promoted side, and will hope they can keep Swindon from another high-scoring result, a big ask given Swindon scored an average of 3.55 goals per game when playing away from home last season.
AFC Bournemouth will host Cheltenham Town at the Bob Lucas Stadium, their first fixture at their new home since the controversial move to Weymouth, 38 miles from their men’s teams base at Vitality Stadium. It will be interesting to see how many of their fans make the trip to see what could be a high scoring affair – last season the 2 league outings between these teams saw the Cherries put a total of 8 goals past Cheltenham with no response.
Elsewhere in the Southern Premier Division Plymouth Argyle and AFC Wimbledon will both be hoping to pick up their first points of the season when they meet at Home Park, whilst Hashtag United host Exeter City, hoping to secure their first home league win since November 2025 and keep their place in the top half of the table.
With a full gameweek of 12 fixtures again this weekend there will undoubtedly be some talking points we’ve missed. We think these are some of the big numbers ahead of gameweek 2 but let us know what you think we’ve missed, or what you think next weeks talking points might be! Drop us a mention via @WOSODataUK on X or Instagram!
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