"We did what we could": Omenazu on a brutal season for MK Dons Women

Resilience and fortitude were essential for MK Dons Women this season after a torrid campaign on the field.

Following last summer’s exodus of players and staff, the young and inexperienced squad battled through a turbulent season, ultimately finishing bottom of the FA WPL Premier Division South with just a point to their name. It means relegation to Division One, with their grouping yet to be decided (likely South East).

Defeats, 21 of them, came at a cost too, with the side suffering several key injuries, while off the field, the players had to contend with uncertainty too, without a permanent head coach for long swathes of the season.

“We’ve had a very difficult time this season,” admitted captain Favour Omenazu to the Citizen. “We had to show a lot of resilience, and I cannot fault anyone in the team.

“We had a lot of injuries and then positions that needed to be filled. We had to make do with that we had, and we did what we could.”

Despite their situation though, Omenazu said the players never allowed their standards to drop and fought as best they could in every game, despite some tough opposition they were coming up against throughout.

She continued “Every girl gave it everything week in, week out, still worked hard. But we’re looking to the next season to see how we can challenge for what we can next season. The ambition is to always compete. We want to be as high as we can.

“I do think you could tell the difference between full-time and semi-pro teams, and the ones who have had backing for a long time.”

Heading into the fourth tier for next season though, Dons are expected to be contenders to bounce back to the Premier Division, particularly with the organisation being brought under the club’s banner from July 1 from the club’s Sports & Education Trust.

For the captain and the players, the ambition for next season is to swiftly recover and move on.

She added: “If promotion is there, it’s there. It’s not something we’re not going to fight for, but we have to create consistency, it’s what we’re striving for.”