Huddersfield Town Women boss Glen Preston hailed his side’s ‘10 out of 10’ second half performance as they ran out 5-1 winners over Loughborough Lighting in their first home game of the FA WNL Northern Premier Division season.
Aimee Kelly, a summer signing from last season’s champions Burnley, grabbed a brace alongside Laura Elford as Town finally won at Accu Stadium.
Rhema Lord-Mears also put in a standout performance with a goal and three assists.
In a tight first half, Town took the lead through Kelly. New signing Olivia Page stepped out of defence to find the striker who neatly turned her marker before rifling a first time shot into the bottom corner - giving her side the lead at the interval.
Loughborough came out with renewed energy for the second half and pounced on Town falling asleep. Olivia Ramon fired in from 18 yards, leaving Bethan Davies rooted to her spot in the Terriers’ goal.
But from there, Town kicked into gear.
Rebecca Beresford found Lord-Mears in the area. Her shot deflected off a defender to wrong-foot the goalkeeper and give Town the lead.
A minute later Lord-Mears turned provider for the first time - breaking down the right and slotting the ball across the box for Elford to poke him from 12 yards.
The two linked up again moments later when Lord-Mears dinked a wonderful cross into the path of Elford again who took a touch and slotted home for 4-1.
And Kelly rounded off proceedings thanks to more sensational play from Lord-Mears. The midfielder brought a ball out of the sky with one touch then turned away from three players with the second before passing into the Kelly’s stride who calmly finished.
After the game Glen Preston was delighted with how his side took the game away from their opponents, especially after the equaliser.
He told We Are Terriers: “Other teams might have buckled and got nervous at that point. I feel it kicked us into gear.
“This side responds very well to setbacks at this moment in time. Last week we were under immense pressure from Norwich and got the point.
“In preseason we’ve gone 1-0 down in two or three games and managed to win them all. And again today we’ve shown it.
“We’ve got a mentality of not being able to be broken and the players just went from strength to strength. They went from a 6 out of 10 to a 10 out of 10 performance in that second half.”
The win means Town take four points from their opening two games following promotion which may take some in the league by surprise.
Preston added: “We got predicted by one club to finish ninth in the league. Maybe these two results will be a bit of an eye opener of what Huddersfield Town are about.
“If you’d said to me we’d get four points from the first two games I’d have taken it knowing the trip to Norwich was the opening fixture so it’s a brilliant start - but that’s all it is.
“We’ll stay grounded because this league can be ruthless. We’ve achieved nothing yet but four points and some good performances might make people take notice of us.”
Two-goal Aimee Kelly will have probably had a host of suitors in the summer given her record in front of goal, but says the Terriers were the right club for her after she spoke to some familiar faces.
She told We Are Terriers: “The backing that the men give to the women’s club was a big factor.
“I’ve been mates when Rhema and Elford too and they only had positive things to say about Glen and the club which fills you with confidence. The girls are great so I was made up to come here.”
And despite the 5-1 win — and like any top striker — Kelly came off disappointed not to have scored more.
Nonetheless, Kelly was delighted with the positive start to the season overall, saying: “I should have scored the first chance too and got a hat-trick! It happens though, and I’m just happy to score and that we got the win.
“Last week was a good point against a very good team and to win 5-1 today just gives us confidence going into the next game.”
The FAWNL cup begins this coming week with Town taking on Bradford City on Wednesday 26 August at the Graham Leslie Arena.