Nat Lowe leads Altrincham into a fascinating Women’s FA Cup third round tie this weekend as they face York City.
Her tier six team are the lowest-ranked side left in the competition – and the cup run has been a “massively exciting” surprise.
“I don’t think we expected to be in this position,” Lowe told SheKicks.net. “That’s not to say that we didn’t think we could get there, but I think what shows how well we’ve done is the fact that we are the lowest ranked team here. We’re still standing with all the other higher ranked bigger clubs. So it’s very exciting and an amazing opportunity for the club and for the girls and for the coaches, for the team. We’re really looking forward to it.”
York City are two divisions above Altrincham, which is why Lowe describes the FA Cup match as “a free shot”.
“We have absolutely nothing to lose. No one would be expecting us to win, I don’t think. And we know that we’ve got a good chance. If we play as well as we can do, then we can beat anyone on the day.
“And look, this is the FA Cup, so anything can happen – stranger things have happened. So we’ll just go out there and enjoy it and see what happens.”
Nat Lowe: As a golfer, I missed the team spirit
Lowe returned to football three years ago after progressing through academy competition as a teenager and then encountering multiple obstacles as she tried to pursue a professional career. Instead, she switched to another sport – golf.
“To be honest, I think I missed the team element about it a lot – having that camaraderie with the girls and new friendships and having that common goal that you try to achieve. Golf is very much an individual sport, all the focus is on you and that comes with positives and negatives.”
Now wearing the Altrincham armband in combination with her day job as a strength and conditioning coach, she loves being part of the squad there.
“Everyone was new to me before I joined the club originally,” she says. “The spirit is amazing. Everyone’s really happy and excited for the weekend, with an element of focus and seriousness to it as well, because we want to win the game, we want to do our best.
“The training sessions have been really good, high intensity, but the girls are just enjoying themselves, they’re loving the opportunity. We didn’t expect to be here, so there’s no pressure on us, we can just go and enjoy ourselves and see what happens.”
