The Lowestoft Town Ladies team will now be jointly managed by Nathaniel Einecker and Ricky Graves, who guided the team to a 2-1 away win in the Women's Premier League at Bedford on Sunday.

Eastwood formed the Lowestoft Town Ladies team in 2011 and achieved an incredible three promotions in four season; which now sees the team plying their trade in the Women's Premier League.

Along the way his side won the League Cup, East Anglia Super Cup and enjoyed many good runs in cup competitions, with the highlight coming last season when they made the third round of the Women's FA Cup. It wasn't just team achievements either, as numerous county call-ups for members of the squad saw them represent and feature for the Suffolk FA Ladies side.

The pinnacle of his sides achievements came last season (2014/15), when they secured promotion to the Women's Premier League by winning every league game on route. This was only the second time such a feat had been achieved in the leagues 24-year history, as the Lowestoft Ladies finished 25 points above second place and also added a 3-1 win against Royston Town in the League Cup Final to make it a double winning season.

During the season they also reached the third round of the Women's FA Cup, with the Lowestoft Town Ladies 1982 FA Cup winning side appearing at the Crown Meadow to meet and pass on advice to the players prior to the match and to support and cheer them on from the sidelines on the day.

Their achievements were recognised in the local community and county as they won the Active Waveney Sports Awards Team of the Year for 2015 and came runners-up in the Suffolk Sports Awards Team Performance / Achievement of the Year Award for 2015.

The summer of 2015 however, saw a number of changes to the side that had achieved promotion to the Women's Premier League. A number of factors, along with commitment, travel, etc, etc at what was now a very high level in women's football, led to faces coming and going and the main nucleus of the 2014/15 side disbanding. This was a disappointing time for the club, to see a young team disband that had the ability to possibly reach the very highest level in women's football (Women's Super League) and has now been followed by Eastwood leaving his role as manager.

This being said, the remarkable achievements by Eastwood and our ladies team from 2011 to 2015 will never be forgotten and were nothing short of magnificent. Everyone at Lowestoft Town Football Club would like to thank David Eastwood for the great times he brought to the club and we wish him all the best for the future.

The Lowestoft Town Ladies team will, however live on and the club are now looking forward to a new era of ladies football, under the guidance of both Nathaniel Einecker and Ricky Graves.
Both are working hard together to instil a high level of professionalism around the team and are in the process of building a new, young and exciting squad for the future.

Speaking about the departure of Eastwood and the future for the Lowestoft Town Ladies team, joint managers Einecker and Graves had the following words to say;
"Firstly we would like to say thank you to David for the commitment and hard work he has put into the team since it was formed and what a fantastic achievement by the team and himself to get Lowestoft Town to such a top level of football in the Women's Premier League".

"We would also like to thank the club for giving us this opportunity to coach not only at this level of football and at a great club with superb support, but also to be able to coach a brilliant and talented young group of players who have so much potential. We are looking forward to the rebuild of the team and adding a few more players to the already talented squad that we're starting to develop".

"Finally we would like to touch on the challenges faced at this standard of football; where the travelling gets further, the opposition gets tougher and players find it increasingly more difficult to commit, which can ultimately lead to teams finding it hard. Unfortunately this is what has happened in this instance for Lowestoft Town with players unable to commit due to work and other factors and we would like to thank the club and the supporters who maybe don't realise how much their support during this journey has helped the girls to push on in a hard situation. Since the short time we have been here we have already seen the incredible support the girls get and we appreciate it from all of you. As for the girls themselves, they have been working hard in training and the effort the girls put in on a game day is superb. They have stuck together and that outstanding togetherness was clear to see when they got their reward on Sunday after coming away from Bedford with a 2-1 win".

The newly formed squad, through no fault of their own, have come into a level that is very testing and will understandably need time and patience to grow as individuals and as a team. This is something that the club fully understand with everyone at Lowestoft Town Football Club right behind the players and management team in giving them our full support in their development.

Lowestoft Town Ladies are next in action when they travel to take on Ipswich Town Ladies on Sunday 21st February 2016 (2pm kick-off)

Terry Bullen