Preview: Middlesbrough Women vs Leeds United Women | OneFootball

Whites head to Boro on Sunday.

Leeds United Women are on their travels again in the FA Women’s National League Division One North this Sunday, as they make the trip north to face Middlesbrough Women.

Rick Passmoor’s side are looking to return to winning ways after two defeats on the bounce following their cup final win.

Defeat to Norton on Wednesday was only the Whites second defeat at home this season and is also only the second time they had lost back-to-back games all campaign.

Sunday’s opponents come into the game on the back of a 6-1 defeat at home to Stockport last weekend and are seven league games without a win, with their last league triumph coming before Christmas.

However, in that time they have beaten Redcar Athletic, Poppleton Ladies and York City (on penalties) to progress to the North Riding County Cup Final, where they will face Redcar Town at York’s LNER Community Stadium on Wednesday.

Supporter Information: 

For supporters making the trip, the game kicks off at 2pm at the Map Group UK Stadium, TS19 0QD.

Tickets are available to purchase by clicking here.

If you can’t make the game, we’ve got you covered right here on leedsunited.com with live updates. Match reaction and highlights will follow on LUTV.

Rick Passmoor:

Passmoor described this last week as a ‘blip’, remaining positive and defending his players in his post-match interview on Wednesday night.

“I think what you’ve got to recognise, for the players, is we’re coming to the final furlong of a long, long season and we have had success until the last couple of fixtures.” He told LUTV.

“We’ve touched on fatigue and injuries and things like that, but this is probably the first dip [of the season].

“Therefore, it’s not just the player, but the person we’re looking at, to stay together, stay as a group. It’s not the time for a blame game, it never will be in one of my changing rooms.

“We’ve just got to get through this, it might be an ugly 0-0 that starts us going once more.

“I’ve spoken to them, we’ve got tough fixtures ahead and we know it’s Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday, Wednesday etc. So, we must stay together, recover and rehab properly to ensure we are at our maximum come matchday.

“This is the variance of football, you can’t be on it every minute of every game in a season, so sometimes what we might have to do it look at our tactics, look what we’ve got as a team and change it appropriately to get the results.

“But we’re now in April and this is probably our first blip of the season.

“You learn more during these periods when it’s up against you. When the ball is rolling for you nicely and you’re doing well and winning, it’s all enjoyable, which it has been all season. Now it’s not happening, so we have got to stick together and we will learn more from these experiences and it will make the good times even sweeter.”

Team news:

Leeds will have centre-back Cath Hamill back available after she missed Wednesday’s defeat through illness and Macy Ellis is hopeful of a return from an ankle knock sustained in last Sunday’s loss at Chorley.

Previous meeting:

Leeds ran out 2-0 winners when the two met under the September sun at the So-Trak Stadium. Laura Bartup gave the Whites a first half lead before Sarah Danby’s first goal of the season sealed all three points.

Players to Watch:

Leeds will have to be weary of Boro forward Jessica Dawson who is their top scorer with 12 this season.

The Whites know they have plenty of firepower themselves, however, with Abbie Brown (14) and Amy Woodruff (13) still in with an outside chance of topping the Division’s scoring charts.

Form:

Middlesbrough Women: LDLDLW

Leeds United Women: LLWLWW

League position:

Middlesbrough Women: 9th

Leeds United Women: 6th