Nottingham Forest Women will play the biggest game in their history on Saturday when they take on Watford at Stadium MK in the FA Women's National League play-off final.
It's the last time the fixture will be played after a promotion shake-up was announced last month. From next season, the final will be scrapped and both winners of the Northern and Southern divisions will be promoted, with two coming down from the Championship.
The changes have been a long time coming and will be welcomed by all clubs in the third tier of the women's game. But for Forest, full attention is on this weekend's clash and nailing down the single promotion place up for grabs this term.
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Andy Cook's side clinched the Northern Premier title at the end of last month with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Stoke City. They've been neck and neck with Wolves, who lost their promotion play-off against Southampton last season, for almost the entirety of this campaign. Both teams finished level on 54 points but it was Forest's superior goal difference that got them over the line in the end.
Cook says his side will lean on the experience from the setbacks and the triumphs over the last couple of years to help them over the line once again against Watford this weekend.
"Experience is everything," he told Nottinghamshire Live. "You can talk till you're blue in the face, but I think it was Mike Tyson that said 'everybody has a plan until you get smacked in the face'.
"Once you've been smacked in the face a few times and you've got experience of knowing what that feels like, you can work with it and you can deal with it. You can know how you need to react in certain moments - we've got that.
"We got that in the cup final when we beat Watford, we got that in games recently where we've had a few setbacks. 2-0 down to Loughborough (Lightning) at half time was a big setback, but we got it back to 2-2. Losing to Wolves in February was a big setback - but since that particular loss we haven't lost a game.
"The girls have got that experience, we've got that experience as a team. Not just this season, but last season getting to the plate final and having that taste of silverware and realising what you have to do in a cup run to get to that point.
"We'll be leaning on all those little bits of experience and there's no price on it. Once you've got it, you've got it. Nobody can take that away from you. It gets you over the line when it counts and when it matters."
Forest have already faced Watford this season, despite playing in separate leagues. The two sides faced off in the FAWNL Cup Final last month and the Reds' emerged victorious on that occasion with an extra-time winner to make it 3-2 on the day.
Cook's side haven't played a competitive fixture since April 30, when they beat Stoke City. Watford, on the other hand, last played on May 7 when their respective league drew to a close.
There has been a significant gap and almost three weeks in between fixtures, but Forest used the time wisely and organised a game against the University of Nottingham's women's team in order to keep themselves fresh. Now, just 90 minutes separates them and the Championship with Watford in their way, although the Hornets will no doubt be seeking revenge after last month's cup final defeat.
"For us, we've got to focus on ourselves," Cook continued. "We need to make sure we're ready for the battle and the fight like we did in the cup final. They're a good side and we know their strengths, but we also know our own strengths and that's something we've focused on throughout the season.
"It was a hell of a cup final and even speaking to their staff during the game, we were saying it was a heck of a game. We'll be expecting the same on Saturday."
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