Ann-Marie Heatherson

Annie Heatherson
Personal information
Full nameAnn-Marie Heatherson
Date of birth27 March 1984
Place of birthHackney, England
Height5 ft 2.5 in (1.59 m)
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current team
Yeovil Town Ladies
Youth career
Charlton Athletic Ladies
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2001–2007Charlton Athletic Ladies
2007Stjarnan4(2)
2007–2008Fulham
2008–2010Millwall Lionesses
2010Chelsea Ladies
2010Buffalo Flash9(7)
2010–2014Bristol Academy36(6)
2015–Yeovil Town Ladies
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Ann-Marie "Annie" Heatherson (born 27 March 1984) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Yeovil Town of FA WSL 2. She began her career with Charlton Athletic and played for rival London clubs Fulham, Millwall Lionesses and Chelsea Ladies after Charlton folded their women's team in 2007. Heatherson also enjoyed short spells in Iceland and the United States before joining Bristol Academy ahead of the inaugural 2011 FA WSL season, where she was also employed by the club as an ambassador. Heatherson represented England up to Under-21 level and was named in senior squads but never capped. She was named the FA Women's Young Player of the Year in 2004.

Club career

Heatherson progressed through the Charlton Athletic centre of excellence and was the reserves' top-scorer in 2001–02.[1] On her full league debut in November 2003 she scored a hat-trick against Aston Villa, and finished the season with 12 goals from 12 starts.[2] She was named FA Young Player of the Year in 2003–04[3] and won the League Cup.[4] She played as Charlton lost the 2004 FA Women's Cup final 3–0 to rivals Arsenal, for whom Julie Fleeting scored a hat-trick.[5]

The next season she got a measure of revenge by scoring in Charlton's 1–0 FA Women's Community Shield win over Arsenal,[6] then helping the club beat Everton 1–0 to win the 2005 FA Women's Cup.[7]

After suffering with injuries, Heatherson appeared as an 85th-minute substitute as Charlton lost the 2007 FA Women's Cup final to quadruple-winning Arsenal.[8] When Charlton Athletic withdrew their women's club's funding that summer, Heatherson joined the player exodus and turned out for the Icelandic club Stjarnan.[9]

She then joined Southern Division WFC Fulham ahead of 2007–08, scoring 16 goals in four pre-season friendlies.[10] Heatherson finished as the Southern Division top-scorer but broke her shin towards the end of the season.[11][12] After Fulham's promotion, Heatherson rejected the chance to play with them in the top flight. She preferred to stay in the Southern Division with Millwall Lionesses,[11][13] who were managed by her former Charlton Athletic manager, Keith Boanas.[11][13]

Heatherson's 20 goals in 20 games helped Millwall to promotion in 2008–09.[14] Towards the end of the following season she signed for Chelsea,[15] who had lost Lianne Sanderson to Women's Professional Soccer in the United States.

Heatherson spent the 2010 summer season playing professionally with American W-League club Buffalo Flash.[14] She scored seven goals in nine matches as the Flash stayed unbeaten and won the league.[16]

Playing against Arsenal in May 2013

In October 2010 Mark Sampson signed Heatherson for Bristol Academy ahead of their inaugural FA WSL campaign.[17] She started both the 2011 and 2013 FA Women's Cup finals as Bristol lost 2–0 and 3–0, respectively, to Arsenal. The league restructure caused by the FA WSL's foundation meant Bristol qualified for the 2011–12 UEFA Women's Champions League as FA Women's Cup runners-up. Heatherson overcame her fear of flying[18] to score in the away leg of the tie with Russians Energy Voronezh, but Bristol succumbed 5–3 on aggregate.

In the 2013 FA WSL, Heatherson scored as Bristol recovered from 3–0 down at half-time to beat Doncaster Belles 4–3 and force a title decider against Liverpool on the final day of the season.[19] Heatherson played as Bristol were beaten 2–0 at Liverpool, but they consoled themselves with another UEFA Women's Champions League qualification.[20]

Heatherson was released by Bristol Academy in June 2014, after falling out of favour.[21] She retired from football, but was persuaded into a comeback with FA WSL 2 club Yeovil Town in December 2014.[22]

International career

Heatherson was called into the England U21 squad, the first to be organised by the Football Association, in June 2004.[2]

She had earlier been called up to the full England squad for a game against Denmark on 19 February 2004.[23] National coach Hope Powell likened Heatherson to Alan Shearer.[24] She was an unused substitute in the 2–0 win at Fratton Park.[25] Heatherson was also drafted into the squad for the next game against Nigeria in November 2004, when Jo Potter withdrew with a back injury.[26]

References

  1. ↑ "Anne Marie Heatherson". BBC. 26 April 2003. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Soccer: Heatherson looks for England place". Evening Echo. 16 June 2004. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "FA WSL Preview: Ann-Marie Heatherson on Bristol Academy". Women Sport Report. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "Charlton still on course for treble". TheFA.com. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  5. ↑ Cocozza, Paul. "Arsenal enjoy Fleeting moment". Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  6. ↑ Turner, Georgina (13 August 2004). "Sweet revenge for Charlton". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Charlton Women 1-0 Everton Ladies". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  8. ↑ "Arsenal clinch quadruple". TheFA.com. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  9. ↑ "Ann Marie Heatherson". KSI.is. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  10. ↑ Amos, Stuart. "Women desperate for a leg up". Richmond & Twickenham Times. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Heatherson begins comeback". Fair Game. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  12. ↑ Heatherson, Ann-Marie (23 February 2011). "Annie's Blog". Bristol Academy WFC. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Lionesses sign Ann Marie". Women's Soccer Scene. 14 July 2008. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Player Profile". Bristol Academy WFC. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  15. ↑ "Leeds Carnegie 0 Chelsea Ladies 1". Chelsea FC. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "2010 Statistics". USLsoccer.com. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
  17. ↑ Academy continue to build squad ahead of new league Bristol Evening Post
  18. ↑ "Ann-Marie takes on familiar face in Euro opener". Bristol Post. 29 September 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  19. ↑ Leighton, Tony (15 September 2013). "WSL: Dramatic Bristol Academy win sets up title decider". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "Liverpool win FA WSL title". The Football Association. 29 September 2013. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  21. ↑ "Bristol Academy's Dave Edmondson dispenses with fowards [sic] Heatherson and Curson". Bristol Post. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  22. ↑ "Heatherson Boosts Yeovil Squad". She Kicks. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  23. ↑ "POWELL NAMES YOUNG SQUAD". The FA. Retrieved 27 April 2014.
  24. ↑ Plummer, David (19 February 2004). "Portsmouth climb down on women's game". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  25. ↑ "International Matches (Women) 2004". RSSSF.com. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
  26. ↑ "England u21 star Sidwell urges support for national women's team". Reading FC. Chelsea FC. Retrieved 27 April 2014.