Simon Wood: Really pleased | OneFootball

Leeds United Women continued fine early-season form with a 3-0 win away at Chester-le-Street Town Ladies in the FA WNL Division One North on Sunday, courtesy of an Amy Woodruff hattrick.

After the game, Simon Wood said: "Really pleased today. We knew today would be tough. We knew they would get a response in terms of how they wanted to play today on their home pitch for the first time this season. I thought Chester-le-Street's shape was really good. I thought they made the game really difficult for us.

"Credit to them, but what we built as a squad when the players came off the bench, they sort of just changed that momentum a little bit, and then we get the second, we get the third for Woodruff's hattrick.

"It's pleasing because that's what we're going to need to do this year, and sort of how competitive this league is. We've scored a few goals, so overall, pleasing, they just made it hard for us but we found a way of winning."

All four of the summer additions to the team featured in the matchday squad against Chester-le-Street, with the boss adding: "We knew what we wanted to do with recruitment this year was we wanted to make sure that we were adding players who had experienced the promotion campaigns, who understood when it gets a little bit pressured, different ways of coping with that, and we knew what they'd do is complement the squad's experience.

"Holly [Mears] makes a great save in that first half. Izzy Dean's been superb at the back. When Ella [Harris] came on, I thought it gave us a little bit of more control over the tempo and that allowed some of the other midfielders to do other bits that they probably hadn't done in the second half so far.

"What we're doing at the minute is things that we've talked about, things that we've worked on through preseason," Wood added on the Whites' ruthlessness in front of goal so far this term. "I think today, again, we've got players that are making that extra run. We've got people that, when a ball's there, they're gonna go and fight for it and we're winning it higher up the pitch. That's pleasing, and that's where we can affect the game and get goals."

Looking ahead to the next two fixtures in the week, a midweek cup clash against Halifax Women and Chorley Women a few days later, he said: "We want to improve again, and then on Sunday's game against Chorley, we want to improve again in that performance. I think when we are building performances, that builds momentum, and we've seen in the past when this group of players and with the players we've added this year, when they get that momentum we can be a really strong force in this league."