After losing to the Women’s National League Cup, Simon Wood said Leeds United Women needed to stop making “silly mistakes” if they wanted to move forward.
Leeds’ cup campaign ended at the first hurdle on Sunday, October 29, when they lost 4-3 to Halifax FC Women, a team that was ranked a division higher than them.
At Bannister Prentice Stadium, the hosts fell behind four goals early in the second half, but they persevered and gave their opponents a hard time.
Manager Wood said on LUTV [October 29, 1 minute 7 second] after the team’s first-round loss, “We need to go out and try to find that spark from the start of a game and cut out the silly mistakes.”
“We’ve been talking about it for a few weeks, but we can give ourselves a chance to compete if we stop making dumb mistakes and follow that inner fire.”
Halifax is a division higher than Leeds, and with just over half of the match completed, the visitors were comfortably ahead 4-0.
However, the Whites deserve all the credit for their resilience and ability to turn the situation into a contest rather than wallow in self-pity.
With 33 goals in 12 games so far this season, Wood’s team has clearly had no trouble scoring goals.
But in those 12 games, they have only managed two clean sheets, and in their last four games across all competitions, they have given up ten goals.
They will be a true force if they can eliminate their mistakes and strengthen their rear end, as Wood says.
Following a few cup matches, attention will once again turn to league affairs when United travels to Barnsley the following weekend.
Hopefully, Wood’s team can draw lessons from the Halifax loss and play flawlessly against their Yorkshire rivals.
Graham Smyth has revealed what Willy Gnonto did right after the final whistle in Leeds United’s victory over Huddersfield Town, in other news.
