Gemma Grainger’s reserve side warmed up for Tuesdays Yorkshire Cup Final against local rivals Leeds City Vixens with a comfortable 5-1 win over Nottingham Forest at Headingley Campus on Sunday afternoon.

The impressive victory was the perfect preparation for Grainger’s hard working side as a brace from Carey Heugett and goals from Emily Scott, Kerry Hammond and Fliss Middleton were enough to overcome a stubborn Forest side.

The game got off to a frenetic start as both teams battled hard to establish superiority. Leeds showed slick passing and great width as they probed for gaps in Forest’s resolute pressing defence and looked particularly potent down the left hand side as Emily Scott and Jade Pennock combined well to cause Forest some early problems.

As both teams settled it was Leeds superior ball movement that began to dominate the pattern of play and after 23 minutes they took a deserved lead. Following quick thinking and an even quicker throw in from Scott down the left hand side, Nikki Gears was able to release forward partner Heugett who calmly finished when one on one with the keeper.

Within two minutes Leeds had doubled their lead as Fliss Middleton produced a moment of individual brilliance following a poorly cleared corner. The neat and tidy forward come winger was able to collect the ball on the edge of the box before lashing an unstoppable drive into the bottom left hand corner of the net.

With only 10 minutes left to play in the first half Leeds scored their third as Kerry Hammond introduced herself to the game with a magical first touch of the ball. The substitute midfielder, on for defender Fiona Berry curled an exquisite right foot shot beautifully into the top right from 30 yards to all but seal the win.

Leeds keeper Caz Fuller had a moment to forget as with the final kick of the first half, when she allowed a well struck Emma White free kick to slip through her normally safe hands as Forest scored what proved to be nothing more than a consolation.

The heavens opened as the second half began and in truth ruined what had been a very entertaining afternoon’s play. Leeds continued to control the patterns of play and but for the horrendous conditions would surely have scored more than the two second half goals they did. As it was Leeds had to settle for a second Carey Heugett goal and a well deserved winner for the lively Emily Scott.

Manager Gemma Grainger was very happy with the win and admitted she was looking forward to her side’s end of season run in, “We’ve really been building over recent weeks and we’re really starting to put together some nice performances. If we can maintain our focus we can have a really strong finish to the season.”

Match report by Jamie Gillham