ELFORD REFLECTS ON SEASON

Striker finished campaign top of scoring charts

Whenever a player finishes as their team’s top scorer for the season, they would be forgiven for focusing only on the positives of the campaign.

Burnley Women’s Laura Elford scored 17 goals in all competitions but admits, however, that 2023/24 was full of ‘highs and lows’ for her personally.

It was the striker’s first full season as a Claret after moving to Lancashire from fellow Northern Premier Division of the Women’s National League side Huddersfield Town in February 2023.

Her first appearance of the season came off the bench in the second league game against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and she then enjoyed a sustained run in the side.

The second half of the season saw here score plenty of goals too, despite being hampered by a quadricep injury picked up in training.

Reflecting on the campaign as a whole, she said: “Finishing as top scorer is a nice achievement!

“I feel like I’ve had a bit of a different season with the injuries, and it’s been a little bit up and down. I’d describe it as a season of two halves, so to contribute with goals in the second half a lot more is nice.

“The physios originally thought it would just take a couple of weeks to get over the injury but it ended up being five, nearly six weeks as it just kept niggling and niggling and I couldn’t really get rid of it.”

As mentioned, Elford scored a lot of vital goals towards the end of the season, including late winners against Stoke City and Halifax.

As such, she found it difficult to pick a favourite, saying: “It would probably be one of my headers recently – I’ve always had a bit of a 50p head and I don’t know why it’s rounded all of a sudden!

“The one against Stoke meant a lot as it was near the end of the game. Or against Halifax – again not for the quality of the goal but for the meaning of it, being so late to secure the three points.

“I prefer the goals that contribute to the team, really.”

The striker played a key role in Burnley winning the Lancashire FA Women’s Senior Cup, too, coming off the bench in the 58th minute and rounding off her hat trick just 21 minutes later.

She continued: “We’d had a lot of midweek games in the build-up to the final and we were nearing the end of that run, so Bex (Rebecca Sawiuk, Head Coach) decided that I was going to be rested.

“Before I went on she asked me to be positive, to try and get my shots off and just play my game.

“The hat trick was a nice little confidence boost. Obviously the opposition are in a lower league so we expected that we’d have more possession and more shots, but it was nice to play in a cup final and it was definitely an evening to remember. “

Elford was involved in two more parts of history, featuring in both women’s team games at Turf Moor against Liverpool Feds and Derby County.

“Playing at Turf twice this season, having played there once last season, was a nice touch and a bit of a privilege to be involved in,” she continued.

“Both games were different to a normal match day and it was nice to see and get the feel that the men’s team get. The pitch is like a carpet and is amazing to play on.

“It was really nice to share it with friends, family and the supporters that came down – we got mascots too and it was just a nice feeling to have all that support from the Club and the fans.”

The whole team are now on their end of season break before returning for pre-season, with the aim again being to gain promotion to the Women’s Championship.

Elford finished by saying: “It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster season with some highs and some lows, but overall it’s been a good season and one to remember.

“We’ve finished the highest that we’ve ever finished, 2nd place, and there’s a lot of positives to take from it and things to work on, which hopefully we’ll do in the future!”