Norwich City Women will kick off their new season away at Dulwich Hamlet this weekend as they look to build on a promising 2023/24 campaign.

The Canaries remained unbeaten in the Women's National League Division One South East for almost the entirety of last term, but ultimately finished one place and seven points behind league winners AFC Wimbledon, who were promoted to tier three.

With a new man in the dugout as the team begin their third full season since being fully integrated into day-to-day club operations, the target for City will be to achieve a promotion of their own.

The new boss

Andy Cook was appointed as City's new head coach on a full-time contract in June, taking over the reins from interim boss Scott Emmerson, who signed off with a Norfolk County Cup final triumph over Wroxham.

An experienced head in the women's game, Cook won a tier four title while in charge of Nottingham Forest and recently helped Newcastle United reach the Women's Championship, so City supporters will hope he can enjoy similar success in Norfolk.

"It's my job to try and help them get a little bit better than where they were last season," Cook said after Sunday's pre-season friendly victory over Royston Town.

"Hopefully, we will get there. They are a very good squad, some very good players, so I'm excited for the season to get going."

The division

As was the case last season, City will be one of 12 teams competing in the National League Division One South East, and will therefore play 22 league matches.

City's opponents on the opening weekend, Dulwich Hamlet, are one of two sides joining the division, having won promotion from tier five alongside Real Bedford.

While Wimbledon have gone up to tier three, Chatham Town and London Bees have both come down from that level. Neither team registered a league win last term, though Bees did beat Martin Herdman's Canaries in the League Cup.

The other notable change to the list of teams City will face is that Worthing are no longer on it, having moved sideways to the South West division.

Worthing held the Canaries to two draws last season and would have almost certainly been in the promotion mix, so City will probably have been relieved to see them move elsewhere.

Summer activity

A total of 10 players have departed the club over the summer, including former captain Anna Larkins, versatile full-back Alice Parker and attacker Rachel Lawrence, with the latter joining Liverpool Feds.

As a result, City have made some additions, with six arriving so far. Half of those have progressed through the club's Academy Development Pathway, including 16-year-old midfielders Sienna Booty and Issy Moore, who both featured heavily in pre-season.

City have also signed Lara Densley from neighbours Wroxham, Ella Powell from Loughborough Lightning and Tamsin Medd-Gill from tier three Plymouth Argyle.

Looking ahead to the campaign, Medd-Gill feels optimistic about City's chances.

She said: "We've got a really competitive group of girls and we've got a really strong squad.

"We've been stuck in this league for the past few seasons (and) I think everybody's just ready to move on. I think we're at the level to be able to do that as well."

Pre-season positivity

New head coach Cook officially took charge at the start of July and City's friendly results under him have been good, with five matches played and four victories collected.

Arguably their most impressive showing of pre-season was at Billericay Town, where they won 4-2, with new signing Densley netting two goals.

An August Carrow Road date

City Women played three games at Carrow Road last season and will host their first of the new campaign later this month when East Anglian rivals Ipswich Town visit in the National League Cup on August 29.

The derby match will give Cook the perfect opportunity to make a positive impression on the home faithful, whose backing will be important as City aspire to defeat their higher-placed opponents.