A season of growth for under-19s

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Dani Bowman reflects on her first season as women's under-19 head coach.

Heather Miller

2025-04-25T06:00+01:00

The under-19s celebrate one of their three goals in their final league game of the season against Leicester City. 📸 James Boardman

The women's under-19s concluded their 2024/25 league campaign with a 3-1 victory over Leicester City.

Dani Bowman's young squad delivered a strong and composed performance to seal a well-earned victory and finish the season on a high. Their goals came from Clarabella Hall, Olivia Johnson and Emillie Gay.

“It’s pleasing to finish the league season with a win,” she said. “We’ve been working on set pieces so it was good to get two goals from that. The girls are trying to apply what we’ve been working on in training which is great.”

Bowman acknowledged her team's progress this season, while emphasising the importance of their personal growth off it.

She continued, “We’ve certainly been on a journey, and the girls have grown from the first day they came in to where they are now.

“It's been good to see their togetherness and watching kids turn into young adults, maturing in their game and growing as people.

“When we say development, it’s about them as players, but also as young adults. We want to produce good people here who achieve things, whether it be on a football pitch or in a classroom or another job.

“As long as we have 25 professional young adults who can step into the working world or football pitch and succeed, that’s more of a success story than anything else.

“What’s nice about this environment is that everyone’s very authentic, in who they are. They don’t put a facade on - everyone’s accepted for who they are."

Danielle Bowman is excited for the future at Albion. 📸 James Boardman

Bowman recognised the challenges the squad have faced, but said they took them in their stride. “It’s certainly been an enjoyable challenge. It’s my first experience of development football and I’m working with girls who are still at school doing exams so the balance between trying to get them to an elite standard while doing a full-time education has been interesting. There are many dynamics to consider.”

“But I have enjoyed the challenge and I’m really excited for what’s to come.”

Albion take on Lewes in the Sussex Women’s Cup final next Tuesday at Culver Road, Lancing. “We’re now looking forward to that then hopefully next season we can push on and the talent that’s coming through from the younger ages will only push this group on even more," added Dani.

“The quality’s getting higher, the standards are improving and hopefully we’ll see some of our players in the first team playing in the WSL.

“May (Balmer) and Evie (Milner) made their debuts earlier in the season and we’ve had countless under-19s in training squads before and since Christmas. Ultimately, we want players who will showcase the talent in the academy - it’s a massive goal for us."