AFC Bournemouth
Daniela Kosińska will have two friendly faces in the crowd when AFC Bournemouth women host National League counterparts Portishead at Vitality Stadium on Sunday.
Goalkeeper Kosińska has hit the ground running since joining the Cherries from Scottish Women’s Premier League outfit Hibernian ahead of the start of this season.
The 22-year-old has played her part in helping Steve Cuss’s team climb to the top of the Division One South West table and reach the first round of the Women’s FA Cup.
Kosińska left home in Poland when she was just 14 in a bid to pursue her career goal of becoming a professional footballer, initially joining Polish top-flight outfit Śląsk Wrocław.
When she was growing up, she also spent a great deal of time in England, with members of her extended family living in Manchester. By her own admission, she “grew up in both countries”.
And her parents – mother Małgorzaìa and father Adam – who live in Polkowice are flying from south-western Poland to watch her in front of a record-breaking crowd at Vitality Stadium.
More than 5,000 tickets have been sold for the contest, the attendance eclipsing the previous best for a women’s game at the stadium when 3,067 spectators saw the Cherries held to a 0-0 draw by Maidenhead United in April.
Kosińska told afcb.co.uk: “I was fortunate to play at some big grounds with my previous clubs and I’m looking forward to playing at Vitality Stadium, especially with my mum and dad coming over.
“I got to play in front of around 8,000 people at Villa Park and that was an incredible experience. All these people shouting your name is something you never forget.
“At Hibernian, I was involved in games at Easter Road, Tynecastle, where Hearts play, and Ibrox, the home of Rangers. I’ve also played at The Valley, Charlton Athletic’s stadium.
“As a footballer, these are the occasions you live for. When you are growing up, you always think what it would be like to play at the big stadiums.
“I’m buzzing and can’t wait to walk out at Vitality Stadium. As soon as my parents found out about the game, they booked their flights. I can’t wait to see them either.”
Kosińska, who also had spells with Aston Villa, Birmingham, Stoke and Huddersfield, has started all but one game for the Cherries this season, keeping three clean sheets in the process.
“It’s been a great start to the season and we want to keep it going against Portishead,” added Kosińska, who was capped by Poland at youth level. “We’ve won every game in the league and have only lost once, in the National League Cup.
“Although going out of the cup was disappointing, I always try to be positive. I can’t lie, the league is our goal and we want to get promoted.
“We’ve have some moments where we’ve had to shake ourselves and come back. We were 1-0 down at half-time against Swindon recently and fought back to win 3-2.
“We can’t drop silly points because that would be very stupid. We managed to get ourselves back in that game and there is tremendous togetherness in the squad.”
Click here for ticket information for the game at Vitality Stadium.
