Durham v Watford

GENERAL manager Lee Sanders insists there is no need to panic despite Durham’s winless start to life in the Women’s Super League.

The Wildcats suffered back-to-back defeats to Sunderland and Millwall in their opening games and they will look to put their first points on the board when they entertain Watford at New Ferens Park tomorrow afternoon (2pm).

One of the downsides of being a newly-formed club, Durham lack the WSL experience many of their opponents boast, but Sanders is confident results will come once his side find their feet.

“There’s always a need to get points on the board on, but there’s no panic,” Sanders said. “Although we don’t want to use the fact, we can’t get relegated and this is a project we will be working on for two or three years.

“It will come. We’ve got a very young team compared to other clubs in this league, who have a lot of WSL experience already.

“The squad’s attitude in training has been superb. The spirit is high despite the results. We’ll keep working hard and the wins will come.”

Durham host their third game in ten days tomorrow afternoon and Sanders hopes North-East football supporters will continue to show their support at New Ferens Park.

He said: “I hope the game with Sunderland will have captured everyone’s imaginations and when we are at home and Sunderland are away, their supporters will come and support us and same with ours when we are away and Sunderland are at home.”

Aston Villa v Sunderland

SUNDERLAND midfielder Rebekah Bass believes her side’s unbeaten start to the season suggests they are more than equipped to deal with the pressure of being title favourites.

The Lady Black Cats have a 100 per cent record going into tomorrow afternoon’s trip to Aston Villa (2pm kick-off) after back-to-back wins over Durham and Reading.

Clare Robinson's side has been hotly tipped to earn promotion at the first time of asking and so far they have lived up to those expectations.

A stunning last-gasp volley from Kelly McDougall was enough to earn Sunderland three points against the Royals last weekend, and Bass insists the pressure won’t have adverse affects on the squad.

“We are one of the favourites for promotion and I think that is deserved because of the quality that we have got,” the midfielder said.

“We’ve got great ability in the team and so I think we go into the Villa game knowing that we are good enough to win.

“They have dangerous players that can hurt us so we just need to make sure we are at our best if we want to win.

“There is a lot of pressure on us to win the league but we don’t let that affect us and we have the same winning mindset no matter what.”

Joe Hunt’s Villa have taken one point from their opening two games as Bethan Merrick netted a 40-yard free-kick to secure a 1-1 draw at Watford last time out.

The Villans’ first game ended in a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of fellow title contenders Doncaster Rovers.