Leeds United Women start their FAWNL Division One North campaign with a West Yorkshire derby against recently relegated Huddersfield Town this weekend.
Ahead of kick off at the Bannister Prentice Stadium, Simon Wood’s side having been putting in the hard yards during pre-season, notably lifting the Julie Chipchase Trophy with an impressive victory over Doncaster Rovers Belles.
The previous campaign’s top scorer and Player of the Season Jess Rousseau is excited for the action to get underway, and believes last term was one the squad are eager to build on this time round.
“I think I learnt a lot about my game last season in terms of scoring goals,” explained the striker.
“This aspect was something I brought over to Leeds and have really developed on. I hope to go on this season and do the same.
“I think we have built the squad over pre-season and really strengthened, which adds another aspect of the game with different types of goals and scorers, to help us keep improving.
“We ended last season well, so it is about having that confidence and bringing things together again during pre-season. We have been working hard as a group to hopefully hit the ground running and we will see what happens.
“Pre-season has been good because it has given us time to gel as a team. The girls are really good and we are all getting along well, so it is giving us a nice team environment which is a positive, so we are all hoping everything pulls together.
“The goal for the season is always to score as many as I can and be on par with what I did last year. But I think also, it is about contributing wider to the team with my overall performance and chipping in with assists, too.
“Huddersfield will be a tough start, we didn’t play them last season so it will be different. We have put the work in on the training ground and we know what we are doing, so it will be a challenge but hopefully we can get the win.
“For the first game to be at our home ground and have our fans behind us is massive for the team.”
Read our match preview HERE.
