We are NOT the finished article, we have boxes to tick, says Mel
Sunderland officially secured their FA Women's Championship status a week earlier – but the 2-1 win over Watford last weekend was a significant one for Mel Reay's side.
The Black Cats have now hit their internal points target for the campaign with three games to spare, underlining what has ultimately been a successful campaign following promotion from the National League.
Perhaps even more significantly, it underlined the significant development of the players within Reay's squad, whose performances are growing in consistency.
RTC graduate Katy Watson scored her first goal for the club, while Neve Herron continued her excellent campaign with another goal and another call-up to the England U19 squad this week.
Reay is eager for her side to end the season on a high and tick off the final internal targets, with Coventry United the visitors to Eppleton on Sunday afternoon (2pm kick off ).
"We've ended the month with three wins and a loss, which is a really good return," Reay said.
"We've achieved our inhouse objective, which is really pleasing for us, on top of staying in the division, which of course was really important for us.
"We've still got a couple more that we want to achieve, so we want to box
them off with three games to go.
"We brought a really young team into a really tough division, and it was always going to take time.
"I think they are starting to come into their own now, and maybe with the pressure off in terms of us being safe, there is a bit more freedom [to play].
"We saw that a bit in the
Conti Cup when we fielded a lot of young teams, so that's something we need to build on when the pressure is on.
"The players are learning about themselves all the time, and what they need to do to do better.
"We are nowhere near the finished article, so we've just got to keep pushing on."
Coventry currently sit bottom of the table but with their hopes of beating the drop very much alive. Their position is also not a particularly good reflection of their strength as a side, given that they were given a 10-point deduction for entering voluntary liquidation before being bought by businessman Lewis Taylor.
Reay knows her side face a stern test.
"It's going to be similar to
Watford in terms of a team coming up here fighting to survive," Reay said.
"They're unbeaten in four, so they'll be coming up with a lot more confidence.
"They need to win, so it's certainly not going to be easy and we're not going to be able to take our foot off the gas, and I wouldn’t expect us to.”
Emily Scarr will miss out due to concussion protocols after being substituted in the opening minutes of last weekend's game, but Reay is hopeful that she will be able to return after the upcoming international break.
Grace Ede is back from England duty and available, while Emily Hutchinson took the next step on her road to recovery with successful ACL surgery.