7th October
Reserves go down at Leeds . . . Leeds United Res 6 - 0 Sunderland Women's Res
Sunderland Reserves, travelled to top of the table Leeds United Reserves, in a game that was always going to be difficult, as Leeds were unbeaten in all their four matches. To make matters worse, Sunderland only had 10 players available, due to injuries and the game was played in warm sunny conditions.
The game started with Sunderland coming under some intense pressure, with Leeds’ Tanya Rich firing wide of the post and goalkeeper Rachael Laws making some outstanding saves. Leeds finally broke down the Sunderland defence on 22 minutes, when Carey Heugeutt opened the scoring making it 1-0.
Leeds looked to double their advantage 5 minutes later, but Laws produced another fine save to deny a header and the Sunderland defence, including Wilson, Bell, Tomlinson and Riddell made some last ditch tackles to prevent further goals being scored.
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Sunderland did however try to counter attack through Willcox and Garrett, but with a player less and the warm conditions, found it difficult to break down the Leeds defence. In midfield, Dewar and Ramshaw battled hard trying to get the ball down and build up an attack, whilst Stokoe worked hard closing down the defenders, trying to stop any attacks that Leeds produced.
In the second half, Leeds took advantage of the extra player and went on to score two early goals in succession both through Carla Ward, making it 4-0. Leeds also took the advantage of bringing on fresh legs to further increase pressure on Sunderland and the score soon became 5-0 through Carey Heugheutt. In the remaining minutes of the game, Heugheutt again scored to complete her hat-trick, making it five wins in five games and Leeds stay top of the table.
Sunderland . . . Rachael Laws, Jane Riddell, Sarah Wilson, Lyndsey Bell, Chloe Tomlinson, Helen Willcox, Lucy Dewar, Lauren Ramshaw, Anna Stokoe.