EXCLUSIVE: Burnley’s Emma Siddall on unbeaten run and Women’s FA Cup tie with Manchester United | OneFootball

Emma Siddall (Burnley FC)

Burnley’s Emma Siddall is smiling from ear to ear. It’s easy to be happy first thing in the morning when you’ve reached the Women’s FA Cup fourth round thanks to a 7-0 win over Peterborough United – and you’ve secured a plum tie away against Manchester United next up.

The full back scored in the weekend’s victory – a wonderful strike from range after taking the ball up the pitch by herself.

And it’s not her first goal of a similar ilk so far this season; in fact, she’s scored in all three rounds of the FA Cup so far.

“Last season I wasn’t on the scoresheet very much,” she admits to SheKicks.net, “but this season I’m just finding myself in those little pockets to shoot, so I thought, ‘Why not?’

“It’s been paying off, so I’ll keep doing it, I think.”

She adds that the team coaches have encouraged her to get higher up the pitch and take a few risks – but she’s not been practising her finishing.

“As a kid, you get into football to score the goals – or I definitely did!

Emma Siddall (Burnley FC)

“As I got older, I’ve dropped back a bit into defence. 

“So every opportunity I get to get higher up the pitch, I take and hopefully produce something from.”

A Manchester City academy graduate, the 20-year-old is looking forward to a trip to Leigh in the next round of the cup.

“For us as a team and for the girls, it was quite an exciting draw because we might not win, but we’re going to definitely go out and put as much into the game as we can and hopefully maybe show ourselves on the bigger pitch, let people know that we are a good team and that we’re ready to fight and hopefully get promoted this season.”

Emma Siddall: We all love what we’re doing

Burnley are still unbeaten at the top of the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier going into the winter break, but Siddall is confident they’ll pick up their great form in the new year.

Emma Siddall (Burnley FC)

“It’s always nice to have a little bit of off time, especially with it being such a hectic year,” she says. “Potentially if we’d have carried on, we’d maybe carry on with that good form, but you hope that the girls have a nice little break and we follow on from this season and the good start we’ve had.”

Siddall will be spending the break with family and friends in Blackpool before returning to training two days after Christmas in preparation for hosting fellow promotion-chasers Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday, 4th January – which she describes as “probably one of the biggest games of our season”.

She adds: “We’ve just got to keep going – but we all love it. It’s something we want to do rather than have to do. 

“You’ve just got to enjoy what you’re doing and hope that the wins keep coming and performances keep staying strong. 

” I’m enjoying the season and I’ve loved every minute of it – so you’ve got to be happy, haven’t you?”