Lynda Shepherd (born 5 May 1985) is a retired

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who played for

FA Women's Premier League Northern Division The FA Women's National League North is a football league at the third tier of women's football in England. Together with the National League South, the two leagues form the highest division of the National League. Established in 1991 as the WFA ...

club Blackburn Rovers L.F.C. She represented

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

at international level, after playing for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at under–21 and under–23 levels.

Club career

Shepherd played for Manchester United Ladies before joining Stockport County Ladies. She joined Blackburn Rovers Ladies in July 2005. Shepherd joined

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

ahead of the 2011

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

season. She was loaned out to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

in the meantime. At the halfway point of the

2012 FA WSL The 2012 FA WSL was the second season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 8 April 2012 and was scheduled to end in October 2012. The league had a break between 8 July and 19 August to allow prepa ...

, Liverpool were again rooted to the bottom of the table and sacked manager Robbie Johnson. Shepherd,

Ruesha Littlejohn Ruesha Littlejohn (born 3 July 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Shamrock Rovers and the Republic of Ireland. She has had four spells with Glasgow City, and stints with Norwegian First Division club IL Sandviken a ...

and Nicola Twohig were released by incoming manager

Matt Beard Matthew Beard (born 9 January 1978) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently head coach of FA Women's Super League club Liverpool F.C. Women. He has previously managed West Ham, Chelsea, Boston Breakers, Millwall an ...

. Later that month Shepherd signed for Manchester City.

International career

Shepherd was first selected for England's under–21 team in July 2004, playing in the Nordic Cup. In 2006, Shepherd was named as a late replacement for the England Senior Team's training trip to

La Manga Club La Manga Club is a sports and leisure resort located in the south-eastern region of Spain, Murcia, south of La Manga, and bordered by the Mar Menor and Calblanque Regional Park. The resort complex opened in 1972 and covers an area of 1,400 ...

. She later played for England at under–23 level. In February 2008 she scored for England U–23s against Germany, also in La Manga. In 2013 Shepherd accepted a call–up to the senior

squad. She made her debut in a 5–1 hammering by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in the 2013 Cyprus Cup. At the same tournament Shepherd scored her first goal for the Irish, a consolation in a 2–1 defeat against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Blackburn statistics

''To October 2009''

References

1985 births Living people Footballers from Plymouth, Devon English women's footballers Blackburn Rovers W.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. Women players FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players England women's under-23 international footballers Women's association footballers from Northern Ireland 21st-century sportswomen from Northern Ireland Manchester City W.F.C. players Northern Ireland women's international footballers English people of Northern Ireland descent Women's association football midfielders Stockport County L.F.C. players 21st-century English sportswomen {{England-women-footy-bio-stub