Jasmine Matthews' goal in the 10th minute was enough to secure victory for the Reds in the Barclays Women's Super League.

The defender fired in on what was her first appearance of 2025 after returning from a lengthy injury lay-off.

Whiteley led the team at VBS Community Stadium in her role as interim manager following Matt Beard's departure earlier in the week – read on for her post-match thoughts…

I thought it was a really strong performance from start to finish. I would have liked to have been further ahead at half-time. We created some really good opportunities in front of goal and some of the attacking play I thought was brilliant today. Second half, they came at us a little bit more but I'm really pleased with the way we defended. It was great.

I thought Jas was excellent. Obviously great for her to get the goal that won us the game but I thought she was outstanding with the ball at her feet. She's only just come back into the team, has been out for a while with injury. So, brilliant to have her back.

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We've changed the system. We only had a couple of days to work on it. So, we'll get to work on the training pitch next week, keep working in those areas and hopefully we'll be more clinical in front of goal in the coming games.

It's been a quick turnaround but the staff have been absolutely brilliant. Our analysts – Jordan [Kevan] and Noah [Sansbury] – [have been] absolutely fantastic, put a real shift in to help get the work prepared to deliver to the players. The players have just responded so, so well. They've had a lot of new information to take on board and they've gone out and produced that today. I'm so, so pleased with them.

So important. Ceri's first appearance was with me when I was interim last time. I'm made up I've got to share that game with her on the sideline today for her 100th. She's been a key player in this team for a long time and hopefully there's more to come from her.

It'll be good to have a full week on the grass. We know it'll be a tough test next week but we'll be prepared. We'll give it a good go next week.

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