Leeds United Women will travel to Arsenal in the FA Cup fourth round after overcoming Stoke City on Sunday afternoon. The Whites beat the Northern Premier Division side 3-1 in Tadcaster with a brace from Danielle Whitham proving to be decisive.
United actually fell behind in the contest, as Stoke’s Kelsey Richardson put the third tier side into the lead after just 45 seconds. Leeds, who hadn’t played in over a month, kept their cool and settled into their stride, though, with Whitham scoring twice.
Amy Woodruff grabbed a third for Leeds just after the hour mark to give them a commanding lead and set up an intriguing tie with Women’s Super League outfit Arsenal, who have won the FA Cup on no fewer than 14 occasions. The Gunners will, of course, be the favourites to progress but Leeds’ stars will be excited to test themselves against household names such as Lioness skipper Leah Williamson and her club and country teammate Lotte Wubben-Moy.
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Arsenal play their home games at Boreham Wood’s Meadow Park and in what would be a remarkable quirk of fate, Leeds’ men could be set to travel to the same ground in the same weekend, should they edge out Cardiff City in their FA Cup third round replay at Elland Road next week and the non-league side win their replay against Accrington Stanley.
“Really pleased with the outcome of the result, but also during the game, the processes of how we played in possession and out of possession,” coach Rick Passmoor said. "When we had to dig deep, we dig deep as a team.
“So, really pleased with the performance. Really pleased after the break we've had in the postponements and moving forward, it gives us a platform to go on, be more professional in training to push ourselves in training ready for games, whether it's Cup games or whether it's league games.”
He added: “I think no matter what level you are, male or female as well, it's creating a culture in the environment and then after that, putting down the principles how you want to play. Obviously coming in late in August, we're now just probably going in the right direction for the players to understand our methods.
“So therefore to perform today, like we did after that break really, really pleasing. And obviously they've got to go forward and enjoy the experience of the next round [at Arsenal].
“Before that, we've got to train well, train hard and we've also got a game at AFC Fylde, in another cup, against another team and club from a league higher. What I want to make sure, though, is that we're not just a cup team this season.
“I want to see us do this in all our league matches, every time we cross the white line, that we outfight we outrun and we outplay oppositions and sometimes during that period, you're going to have difficult moments.”
Leeds are currently sixth in the National League Division One North table, but they have two games in hand and they’ll be aiming to build up a head of steam over the second half of the campaign. They return to action on January 22 with a trip to AFC Fylde in the National League Plate.
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