Kate Longhurst will be sitting on the Nottingham Forest bench this weekend as their newly-appointed assistant coach.
The WSL2 side take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round of the Women’s FA Cup on Saturday lunchtime – and Longhurst knows a thing or two about the competition.
“It’s good to be back involved in the FA Cup,” she tells SheKicks.net. “I’ve probably been part of it for the best part of 20-odd seasons, at least – so yes, in a different capacity now, but it’s just as exciting to be involved in it.”
Indeed, she scored a goal in the 2012 Women’s FA Cup Final, albeit ultimately a losing effort as Chelsea fell to Birmingham City in a penalty shoot-out – but she has plenty of other memories of the competition over the last two decades.
“One of my earliest games when I was at Colchester United, we drew Arsenal in the FA Cup – it’s great for lower league teams when you get a big draw. That’s the excitement of it. It’s almost more exciting, I think, when you’re at a lower league team rather than when you’re in WSL and you’re playing the same teams that you’re always playing the further you get. It’s great to play so many different teams.
“And we’ve obviously got a tough fixture straight away, but that’s good for us because it means, we have to prepare properly like we always would, and it should be a good challenge for us.”
Kate Longhurst: Wolves were arguably the hardest team we played last season
Wolves are a team that Forest know well having both been in tier 3 together. Although Forest are now in WSL2, Wolves are chasing promotion this season, and will want to prove that they can make the step up as well.
“Last season they were arguably the hardest team that we played against,” reflects Longhurst, who was in the Forest playing squad then, “and we didn’t finish that far points-wise above them, so they’ll certainly be looking to get promoted this season – and they’re doing a pretty good job of it at the moment.
“They’ll see us as competition, but a team that they think they can beat, so we have to prepare for that. We’ve watched a lot of their games and we know their strengths and also their weaknesses, and hopefully we can prepare right because they are a good club and I’m sure that if they continue the way they’re going, they’ll be joining us in WSL2 next season.”
Longhurst: I want to bring a different perspective
Longhurst retired from playing at the end of last season, and wasn’t necessarily considering going into coaching – but felt that rejoining Forest was an opportunity she couldn’t pass up.
“There’s a lot that I can learn. You realise pretty quickly how different it is from playing to then becoming part of the coaching staff and what’s involved and how long the days are and how much you really need to involve yourself in every fixture.”
She adds: “I felt it was something I wanted to explore to see if I enjoy doing it. whether I’m any good at it. I have coached previously when I was younger, but I haven’t done it for quite a few years. So it’s very different coming back into that environment.
“Now that I’m here, it’s something I want to put everything into for this season and really try and help this club progress, and I feel I can bring maybe a different perspective after being a player. Hopefully I can be more of a link between players and coaching staff and that’s where I’m trying to find my feet at the moment.”
