The Owlesses were set to face a tough test, overcoming a side that toppled Wednesday Ladies 6-0 in the reverse fixture, and Handsworth had undergone a brilliant season since the clash at the Jubilee Sports Club, sitting 4th in the table.

Following last weekend’s disappointing result against Altofts, Owlesses coaches Andy Gilligan and Gary Wilson opted to make two changes to the side as Wednesday Ladies shot-stopper Skye Webster came in for Kirsty Tonner, whilst Abbie Hastie was handed a start in place of Lily-May Jackson.

Wednesday Ladies had been set up to suck in the pressure of an attacking Handsworth side, and the hosts showed their intent with a number of early attacks.

Despite looking solid in the early stages, Handsworth took an early lead. Some fine defending from Eleanor Vessey and Romy Lee squashed the initial attack, but the ball bobbled to the home side’s midfielder who played Kath Connell through on goal, and made no mistake in slotting it past Webster.

At 1-0, Handsworth were showing no signs of slowing down, but an audacious chip from the right side saw Nicole Shaw loop a shot from 30-yards, leaving Libby Howard flat-footed in net for the Ambers for the Wednesday attacker’s 9th of the NERWFL season.

Despite the best score of Gilligan and Wilson’s side following Shaw’s wonder-strike, Handsworth regained their advantage, this time through Ellie Hollis-Bland, who showed class to find the bottom corner, giving the Wednesday keeper no chance.

The Owlesses were matching Handsworth across the pitch, and despite the deficit, were causing the hosts trouble, particularly through Harriet Lloyd, who, like Shaw, was looking to test the keeper from afar.

A chance to level up the game once again fell for Wednesday Ladies, this time through Amy Broomhead, who had to stretch to get on the end of Shaw’s cross from the right, but the Owlesses striker’s effort could only be directed the wrong side of the post, and that was the last notable action before the interval.

The early stages of the second half saw Handsworth start strongly, and they made the task for the Owlesses that much more difficult as a mixup between the Wednesday Ladies defence saw Katie Jepson take advantage and fire a strike beyond Webster and into the top near corner.

Wilson and Gilligan looked to give their side that extra wind with Heidi O’Reilly and Lily-May Jackson coming on from off-the-bench on the 60th minute mark. With another two changes that saw Jess Birtles and Molly Crossland enter the fray, with the Owlesses going to a 3-5-2 formation.

Immediately, the tinkering paid off as Broomhead was played into the box, and she calmly rounded the keeper to half the deficit and make the score 3-2 with 25 minutes to spare.

The Owlesses continued to look strong right up until the final whistle, fashioning several half chances, but couldn’t quite get past the strong home side, meaning that Handsworth came away with a 3-2 win.

Sheffield Wednesday Ladies will hope to get back to winning ways next time out as they host Sheffield United Community Foundation in the second Steel City derby of the 2024/25 campaign, with match details set to be confirmed this week on social media.

Starting XI: Webster; Gilligan, Lee, Teardley, Vessey; Stancill, Brennan, Hastie; Shaw, Lloyd, Broomhead. Subs: Tonner, Birtles, O’Reilly, Crossland, Jackson.