Doncaster Rovers Belles suffer derby defeat in curtain-raiser

Town built a 2-0 lead by the half hour and completed the scoring in the last five minutes. Belles were due to visit Hull City on Tuesday evening in the first of their three League Cup Group stage games. City began their tier three Northern Premier Division campaign with a 1-0 over Halifax with Jess Tugby-Andrew, Belles captain last season, netting the game’s only goal early on.

Belles’ long term ambition is to climb back up the pyramid and Tuesday’s game along with the Huddersfield one against a strong Town with plenty of their three experience will provide a good indicator of the size of the task ahead.

Belles play their first home game of the season on Sunday when they meet York City at this season’s new home of Millmoor (former home ground of Rotherham United).

The recently-published 'Belles Build Together' three-year plan has the club aiming for the “highest attendances at the tier the first team are competing at". A key way to achieve this target is to win games.

York finished tenth last season, one place higher than Belles who were reprieved from relegation by events elsewhere. Sunday’s game is followed by another home fixture, against Blackburn Rovers who took voluntary demotion from tier two and like the Belles back in 2018 are having to rebuild from scratch.

Getting early points on the board is important to avoid another season of becoming embroiled in a relegation dogfight and also to attract people to home games as Belles seek to achieve the targets set.