York City Ladies will hope to complete an early league double when travelling for an immediate return meeting with Castleford White Rose Women on Sunday afternoon (kick-off 2.00pm).
The Minsterbelles recovered from a particularly difficult sequence of five successive league defeats to vitally overcome the West Yorkshire outfit 5-2 at Haxby Road at the weekend.
That was sufficient to lift them a couple of places off the bottom of the North East Regional Premier League and above both their latest opponents and fellow strugglers Wakefield, who have since succeeded them.
Striker Alice Turner celebrated her recent elevation into the senior ranks with a brace having previously netted an impressive nine goals from the bench for the reserves last term.
Photo: Ian Parker
Newcomer Alice Turner scored twice against the weekend opponents
Meanwhile, Ellie Regan was on target for the third time in four games, and regular contributors Kayleigh Davis and Megan Bramham similarly found the scoresheet.
City’s first league victory of the campaign was also notably achieved with still a number of key senior players unavailable: Chloe Precious, Laura Midgley, Jazz Whitwell, Beth Clayton and Nikki Brown all currently sidelined.
Following a massively improved fourth-place last season, Castleford have noticeably struggled again this time around while also forced to rely on a number of younger individuals.
Photo: Ian Parker
Midfielder Beth Clayton (far right) has been sidelined with injury
However, York should be mindful that they narrowly lost 4-3 on their most recent visit despite Bramham and Zoe Doherty (2) being on the mark back in September 2016.
With no other league fixtures scheduled for this weekend due to cup commitments elsewhere, City Ladies would actually move ever-closer to mid-table should they manage to register back-to-back victories.
And with their next couple of games against the current top-two in the table, Norton & Stockton Ancients (H) and Durham Cestria (A), it’s therefore clearly important they gather some reward this time. 
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