Molly Etchells will finish her latest night shift as a response police officer at 7am on Sunday. She will try to nap for a couple of hours and then, at 1.45pm, her team’s Women’s FA Cup second-round fixture will kick off as they try to earn a place in Monday’s third‑round draw alongside Championship clubs.
Football is Etchells’ distraction from her day job and, on a sub-zero evening in Greater Manchester, neither she nor any of her teammates are deterred by the snow falling as they prepare. “I need it,” Etchells says as she and the rest of the players at fifth-tier Mancunian Unity get ready to host sixth-tier Handsworth. “I don’t feel like I’m a police officer when I’m here. It’s great.”
