We sat down with long-serving midfielder Beth Hepple this week for a bumper interview.
The full interview will be in our Match Day Magazine for the visit of Manchester City – and if you have a ticket for the game, you can order your Match Day Magazine HERE.
Here’s a snippet of the long-read interview as the midfielder looks ahead to the visit of City…
The draw was met with excitement within the club – albeit tempered given there were still crucial games to play in 2023.
But with full focus now on the visit of City, Hepple admits that the dressing room are relishing the occasion.
“Everyone is really excited,” she said.
“We’ve got a number of younger players who haven’t had the opportunity to play against such huge names in world football.
“I think you just have to embrace it because it’s going to be such a huge occasion and a huge test.
“But this is literally what you play football for, to test yourself against the best in the country and the world.
“You don’t get many occasions like this so we need to embrace it.”
This season has seen Hepple return to the field after a spell out injured, with the midfielder making her return in the Third Round tie at West Brom.
“It was really nice to be back amongst the girls and the squad,” she said of that game.
“There were a couple of months where I wasn’t able to train and there are some harder days where you just want to be involved and around the squad.
“It was huge for me to be back and to get my start in the FA Cup, I was really grateful for that.
“We had a good week and a good win before the end of the year, and hopefully we can carry that on.”
Focus for now Durham is now on the New Year and pushing up the Barclays Women’s Championship table.
So what are Hepple’s hopes for the new calendar year?
“We finished 2023 with a good end and we want to carry that momentum forward.
“Hopefully we can kick-on. We’ve got the players, the staff and the club to do that, so I’m hoping 2024 we can push on and push ourselves.
“If you look at the table we’re not far away and anything can happen.”
