Middlesbrough Women are hoping to kickstart the new year with a huge victory over title rivals Leeds Ladies, with all attention now on the league.

Boro set a target of promotion this season, but only one side goes up. Mick Mulhern’s side made a really positive unbeaten start to the campaign, only for positive runs in both the League Cup and FA Cup to come at the cost of injuries that impacted league form. Defeat to Doncaster Belles and a draw with Barnsley in November saw Boro slip to fifth in the league table, albeit with games in hand over all the sides above them that could see them go back top.

And with their runs in both cup competitions coming to an end in their final two games of 2024 - against higher tier sides on both occasions - Mulhern’s side now start 2025 with all their focus on their league campaign and meeting expectations to win promotion. That starts this weekend when they host Leeds Ladies at Stockton Town - with Leeds currently joint-second and four points better off than Boro having played two games more, making it an important game for Boro’s Women.

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Reflecting on the season to date and looking ahead to the new year, Mulhern recently said: “Our aim this season is promotion. It will be interesting come April or May to look back with hindsight and see if we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve and what we can learn from this season.

“The cup run has been great - giving us extra games and helping us bed in new players and teach them the way we want to play. But it also had pitfalls. We lost two players long-term and a third player through concussion for six weeks - and they all came in cup games. So that’s a massive negative of being in the cups.

“If we don’t get promoted, the whole experience will be a negative. It’s why we have to make sure we achieve our goals, to make these games and experiences like the one at Newcastle worthwhile. We need to try to avoid major injuries now because they stretched the squad.

“I’m delighted with the group and the desire they’ve shown so far this season though. We’ve beaten Hull City and West Brom this season from the division above and that just proves to me we are good enough to be in that league. We’re ready for that league, the issue is you have to make yourself the one team that gets promoted from this league.

“There are a lot of good teams like Leeds and Huddersfield who are pushing for that promotion alongside us. It’s a race but we have to make sure we get there, one way or another.”

To bolster their chances, Boro have signed winger Kacie Elson and secured midfielder Georgia Gibson on loan, with both arriving from Newcastle United Women. The pair both played crucial roles in back-to-back promotions for Newcastle in the last two seasons.

The pair are both available to make their debuts in Sunday’s crucial clash with Leeds Ladies, which kicks off at 2 pm at Stockton Town FC’s home ground. Entry is free for Boro season card holders as well as all under-18s, while tickets are priced at £5 otherwise. Boro Women are hoping for a bumper crowd to give them that extra push in such a key game.