Salford City Lionesses surprise children with free tickets for upcoming FA Cup match

Members of the Salford City Lionesses team gave out more than 250 tickets for their upcoming match against Bolton to local school children.

St Paul's Primary School neighbours Salford City's Moor Lane. Its pupils were given the chance to do their PE lesson at the stadium with a mile run around the pitch.

They were surprised by Salford striker Saffron Newhouse and Women's Player of the Season nominee Ellen Thornton, who both cheered them on during their run.

Saffron said: "We love getting the local schools in.

"It’ll encourage them to hopefully get involved with football and help their local community."

The players also handed out 250 free tickets for their match against Bolton Wanderers on Sunday, 1 October.

It will be the first time Salford City's Lionesses take on Bolton in a competitive match, playing them in the second qualifying round of the FA Cup.

Ellen Thornton said: "We’ve played them in preseason and it were a bit of a tough game really... They’re young, they’re quick. They’re dangerous really.

"We’ve got some girls that come from Bolton and play in Bolton so for them it’s like a local derby so it’ll just be nice to get one over on them really."

Despite Bolton presenting a challenge to the Lionesses, they hope getting more fans into the stadium will give them the boost they need.

Saffron said: "We're going to... encourage them to hopefully come out and watch us this weekend.

"We want to get everyone involved and we want to show them that we’re here to support them and have them here to support us. It’s just massively important."

Salford City Lionesses take on Bolton Wanderers on Sunday 1 October at 2pm.