14/09/2026
⚽️ THIRSK FALCONS LADIES ARE UP AND RUNNING! 🦅
Thirsk Falcons Ladies 2–3 South Park Rangers
Years in the making, women’s 11v11 football has finally arrived in Thirsk as the Ladies welcomed South Park Rangers to Sowerby Sports Village for their first-ever league game.
Going into the game with plenty of excitement, the Ladies started well. With lots of new faces in the squad still looking to gel, Thirsk spent the opening stages trying to find their rhythm.
South Park struck first in the 25th minute, but their lead didn’t last long. A ball over from Chelsea Boston found Dawn D’Canville unmarked on the edge of the box. Dawn had time to bring the ball down before calmly putting it past the keeper to make it 1–1 — and in doing so became the scorer of Thirsk Falcons Ladies’ first-ever goal at 11v11!
As the half went on, South Park began to enjoy more of the ball. New keeper Ava Hughes-Frances was really tested at times and produced some fantastic saves to keep Thirsk in the game. South Park did manage to find the net twice more before the break, sending the Ladies in 3–1 down at half-time.
A change of shape at the break saw Thirsk come back out ready to have a go. The Ladies enjoyed much more of the ball and started getting forward more often.
That was rewarded on the hour mark when Kelly Davidson stepped out from defence and drove forward, beating three players before playing the ball into Jess Barton, who went through and finished the move to make it 3–2.
At 3–2, Thirsk had chances to grab an equaliser and a point. The Ladies gave everything they had on a very warm afternoon but just couldn’t find the goal their second-half performance deserved.
A 3–2 defeat, but for many of the Ladies this was their first taste of 11v11 football, and it gives us a fantastic platform to build from. There were some outstanding performances across the pitch and plenty of positives to take into our next game against Tibs next week!
🏆 Coaches’ Player of the Match – Ava Hughes-Frances
Ava pulled off some fantastic saves and showed great distribution throughout the 90 minutes. An outstanding performance in her first adult game, having only turned 16 a few weeks ago!
🏆 Players’ Player of the Match – Kelly Davidson
Kelly worked extremely hard throughout the game, made some fantastic driving runs out of defence and capped off a brilliant debut with the assist for Jess’s goal.
⚽️ A special mention for Dawn D’Canville, who goes into the history books as the scorer of Thirsk Falcons Ladies’ first-ever 11v11 goal!
The result might not have gone our way, but after years of work to bring 11v11 women’s football to Thirsk, seeing the team finally walk out at SSV was a huge moment for the club.
Well done to everyone involved. Game one complete, now we keep progressing!
