Leeds United Women ran out 5-1 winners over FC St Helens Women in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup first round proper this afternoon, with three goals coming in the final ten minutes.
First-half substitute Sian Gibrill-Keating won the penalty which Kath Smith opened the scoring from, and netted in the second half, and 65th minute introduction Brittany Sanderson bagged a brace.
After the victory, Simon Wood said: “It was a proper FA Cup game against a team from a lower division. They’re unbeaten in their league this year, so we knew it would be tough.
“I think the first half, we controlled the game really, really well, and we limited what their threat was and we were unlucky to not be more goals in front at half time.
“We just had to steady ourselves, and massive credit to the players because they were under a little bit of pressure because St Helens stepped up what they were doing, but we found a little bit of calmness when we got the second goal and we started to control the game.”
On the impact of the substitutes: “We’ve tried to build a squad that’s competitive and it’s not just about putting eleven on the pitch, it’s having people that can come on and impact a game when they do.
“Just having that freshness to come off the bench and impact it, I thought the players that came on, you saw the impact that they put in there.
“It's really pleasing that players came on with the right attitude after not being in the starting XI and then impacted the result of the game.
“Another good result,” Simon spoke on the cup run. “Tomorrow we get to listen to another cup draw that has our name in the next round, and the thing about these competitions is the more rounds you get through the harder they get.
On Wednesday’s clash against Doncaster Rovers Belles: “We’re excited. We want to play games of football, and at the minute we’re in a really good space where we’re being competitive in games of football.
“We’re getting good, positive results from how hard the players are working, so the players want another game of football. We’ve got some great depth in this squad, so depending on who we have in the starting eleven, we’ll go and be ready to play the 90 minutes.”
