Thornaby FC Women manager Curtis Collantine has challenged his players to remain relentless by insisting there is “no room for error” in the North-East Regional Women’s League Premier Division promotion race.
Thornaby maintained their blistering form on Sunday with a clinical 3-0 victory over South Shields Women.
The win, sparked by a composed finish from Eve Gatens, was headlined by an incredible 40-yard free-kick from captain Jen Knowles that screamed into the top corner.
Sophie Tierny added a third late on to ensure Thornaby remain the primary threat to league leaders Bradford City in the title race.
With two games in hand and an eight-point gap to bridge, Collantine is demanding perfection starting with this Sunday’s home clash against Sunderland West End.
“We’ve worked incredibly hard to get into this position, but now isn’t the time to admire the league table – it’s the time to push even harder and show everyone what we are about,” said Collantine.
“I want to see my players showing absolutely no signs of stopping. We have shown the quality and the goals are flowing, but the focus now has to be on maintaining those standards every single week.
“In our pursuit of Bradford, there is absolutely no room for error or a drop in concentration.
We have to treat every single fixture, regardless of where the opposition is in the league, with the same intensity we showed against South Shields and the last five games.
“If we keep our levels this high, stay clinical in front of goal, and refuse to take our foot off the gas, we are firmly in this title hunt and we won’t be going away.”
The action at Teesdale Park this weekend starts when the men’s side begin a home double-header.
On Saturday, they welcome sixth-placed West Auckland before hosting Carlisle City on Tuesday night.
Co-managers Simon Kasonali and Craig Skelton’s side is showing significant signs of improvement.
Despite a narrow 3-2 loss to league leaders Shildon on Saturday – where James Sayer and Luke Drummond both found the net – the performance proved Thornaby can go toe-to-toe with the division’s best.
Co-boss Kasonali praised the shift in mentality as the team looks to pull further away from the relegation zone, while disappointed with the result.
He said: “That was a really good, high-quality, end-to-end game against top opposition last Saturday and, while we didn’t get the point we perhaps deserved, we can take so much from it.
“We are starting to look much better as a unit – the lads are grafting hard for each other, we’re scoring good goals, and the confidence is clearly growing.
“We have to keep this momentum going into these home games and make sure the improvements we are seeing on the pitch translate into points.
“If we show that same battling quality against West Auckland and Carlisle, we’ll give ourselves a great chance of climbing higher up the table. We’ve shown we won’t cave in against the best, and we want to more clinical at home.”
Thornaby are six points clear of the drop zone but have an eye on slashing the gap to the mid-table positions and cement their status in Northern League Division One.
Upcoming schedule at Teesdale Park
Saturday: Thornaby FC vs West Auckland (3pm)
Sunday: Thornaby Women vs Sunderland West End (2pm)
Tuesday: Thornaby FC vs Carlisle City (7.30pm):
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