Will it be a kick in the guts or a kick start to The Women's Super League ?
The last game of the season takes place at The Valley on Saturday (12.30pm kick off) when Charlton Women take on bottom WSL club Leicester City for the right to play in the WSL next season.
Leicester cannot be said to be in great form. Since beating London City 1-0 back in mid December they have played twelve games and lost every one of them. They finished the WSL season with just nine points - eight points adrift of safety and having lost seventeen of their twenty two fixtures. They scored just eleven goals in those twenty two fixtures and conceded fifty two. The only hint of a silver lining is that, having lost 0-7 at Arsenal and 1-5 at London City in April, they restricted Chelsea to 1-3 and Everton to 0-1 in May.
Against WSL 2 opposition they did beat Ipswich 5-1 away in the League Cup, although that was back in September. In the same competition they lost 0-3 at home to Crystal Palace in November.
Not that Charlton can claim any great run of form either. It all started falling apart in March when they lost 0-2 at home to subsequently relegated Portsmouth to bring their long unbeaten run to an end. Since then they have lost five times, drawn once and tasted victory just on just one occasion - two months ago 1-0 against Southampton. The much-vaunted defence has become decidedly leaky with twelve conceded in six games. Failure to strengthen the squad in January appears to have taken its toll.
However, the team's performance against WSL Liverpool in the FA Cup last month offers some grounds for optimism. Although they finished second to last in the WSL Liverpool are a better team than Leicester and our women took them to extra time before conceding a very late goal. A similar performance would be very welcome.
Over two thousand tickets for the game had already been sold five days before the game. CAST's recent supporter survey revealed that there are number of CAFC fans who "haven't attended a women's game but would like to" and Saturday is a great opportunity to sample the very special atmosphere of women's games at The Valley. In addition, those attending might well find themselves being part of an unique celebration.
Beware - there will be no trains on the Greenwich line on Saturday between Cannon Street and Slade Green.
Tickets for the game can be purchased here: