WU19s prepare to face Birmingham City in cup final

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Dani Bowman's side looking to pick up some silverware on Saturday.

2026-04-24T06:00+01:00

Dani Bowman talks to her squad ahead of Saturday's cup final at Loughborough. 📷Paul Hazlewood

Albion WU19s head into the final of the PGA Cup on Saturday looking to round oﬀ a season of strong development with silverware.

Dani Bowman’s team take on Birmingham City at Loughborough, and the final represents a significant milestone for a young squad that has continued to grow both individually and collectively throughout the campaign, with the opportunity to turn that progress into a tangible reward.

For Bowman the journey itself has underlined the value of working within the development game and the long-term impact it can have on players.

“It’s really opened my eyes to what development football’s like and the reward you get when you shape a young child’s life and how they then develop into adults and go on and have success,” she said.

“We want to go and win on Saturday but we also want to just get our players into our first team and make that as strong as possible.

“Mine is a dual role around developing our players, but also producing our players for the first team.”

That balance between development and results has been a key theme throughout the season, with players gaining valuable exposure and contributing to the wider pathway within the club.

“If we can get our young players to have success and win, ultimately that would then have a knock on in the first team.”

Bowman’s side are preparing to face unfamiliar opposition in a high-stakes encounter on Saturday.

“We haven’t actually faced Birmingham this year. So again, that’s a new challenge for us,” she added.

“We will obviously do our analysis work on them, but ultimately it’s 90 minutes of a game where anyone could take it.”

That mindset has been central to Brighton’s progress this season, with a consistent focus on controlling their own performances. “You can never control an opposition. You can only control what we do.

“For us, that’s ultimately what we’ve been priding ourselves on all season.

“We obviously understand it’s a big occasion, but we don’t want to make it too big.”

Albion U19s drew 0-0 at Arsenal in the PGA League on Wednesday. They gained an additional point by winning the penalty shoot-out 4-2 while another positive saw Lily Dent get her first minutes since recovering from an ACL injury.