EXCLUSIVE: Fulham boss Steve Jaye and midfielder Jade Bradley on crunch pre-Christmas clash | OneFootball

Steve Jaye of Fulham (Pedro Soares)

Fulham have a chance to go top of the FA Women’s National League Division One South-East to round off 2025.

They travel to Cambridge United on Sunday afternoon for their last match of the year knowing that three points from their game in hand will take them above current leaders Norwich City.

But manager Steve Jaye tells SheKicks.net that they aren’t worrying about the league table.

“We can’t control what it looks like – apart from the games that we obviously participate in! So the fact that we’re a game behind at the moment just is what it is.”

He points to last season – when Fulham were promoted from tier five at the end of the season, but had played five games fewer than the league leaders going into the Christmas break.

“We couldn’t really look at the league table, and that doesn’t really define us at this point. So [we’ve] just got to control what we can control, and obviously we’ve got the opportunity to earn three points on Sunday, so we’ve got to work towards that.”

Fulham’s Jade Bradley: This is the most focused we’ve been all season

It comes exactly a week after another unbeaten team – AFC Bournemouth, top of the FA Women’s National League Southern Premier – handed Fulham a sound 5-0 beating in the third round of the Women’s FA Cup.

But midfielder Jade Bradley thinks it was a valuable lesson that they learnt.

“We’ve not forgotten about Sunday, but we came in [to training on] Tuesday knowing, ‘Okay, we’ve got a game to get through [before the Christmas break].

“If anything, it’s probably the most focused we’ve been all season because you’ve only got this seven-day period that you have to focus on and then you’ve got a bit of time off.”

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Reflecting on last weekend’s match, she adds: “It was a learning curve, but at the same time we knew what they were going to bring. We know that they’re a top side in tier 3 competing highly, and I assume at this point with the players they’ve got and the structure they’ve got, they could probably compete against a few teams in the Championship [WSL2] as well.”

And though she thought the scoreline was harsh, she says it highlighted a few details they can work on to improve their level even further as they aim to step up to tier three themselves.

“We don’t underestimate what we’ve got here and we don’t believe that we’d struggle as such against teams of that calibre – we know we’ve got the players, we know we’ve got structure, we know how we play, how we want to play.”

“It reminds us that we’re not at our best still and we’ve still got a lot of work to do,” agrees Jaye. “So we need to make sure that we’re ready for that.”

Fulham boss Steve Jaye: The winter break is brilliant

Fulham’s squad will have 12 days off over Christmas, returning to training ready to prepare for their first game of 2026 on Sunday, 4th January, when they host near neighbours Actonians.

“The winter break is brilliant within the women’s game,” says Jaye, who will be travelling to visit family over the festive season. “It gives you that space to reflect, but also get a break, spend some time with family, which our schedules may not normally let us do.”

Bradley, on the other hand, might have a rather less relaxed time. She will also be spending time with family – including a brand-new member of it.

“My sister is in Orpington, and is due to have a baby in the next probably 10 days,” she reveals. “So we are all of us going there hoping that it comes sooner rather than later. 

“It’s due on the 27th, which is my birthday, so it’s all hectic. So yeah, we’ll be over there just on tenterhooks, ready for whatever happens!”