LEEDS’ IMPRESSIVE PROGRESS REWARDED WITH PROMOTION

Three years after stepping up from the Yorkshire & Humberside League to the Northern Division of the FA Women’s Premier League, Leeds United kicked off a decade of high achievement by winning promotion to the top flight.

With third and fourth place finishes in their first two seasons of Northern Division football, good progress had already been made ahead of the Yorkshire club’s springboard 2000-01 campaign. 

Opening their account with an impressive run of five successive victories, the sequence was broken by defeat to an Oldham Curzon side that then matched them step by step until Leeds clinched the title with a 5-0 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers in their last game of the season. 

“Curzon were a very good side who chased us all the way,” recalled ex-Leeds striker Lucy Ward, who was destined to become a women’s football TV commentator after spending all but one season of her playing career with her home town club (she spent the 2002-03 season at Doncaster Belles).

“One of our most important results was when we beat them at home half-way through the season,” Ward added, “because I think they won practically every game after that and we obviously had to do the same.

“In the run-in to the end of the season we had to play a ridiculous amount of matches in a short space of time. We were going really well and on course to win the League, but then all of a sudden we got a bit wobbly in our last-but-one game against Garswood Saints.

“We played it at the Liverpool FA ground on the Astroturf, a difficult surface which I didn’t enjoy playing on. We should have beaten Garswood comfortably, but we made it hard for ourselves and scraped through 3-2. 

“That meant a win against Wolves would give us the title no matter what Curzon did, and we did it in style – and after the season we’d had we felt we were ready to take on the big guns of the National Division.” 

The confidence of the Leeds players proved justified as they went on to become a force at top level, reaching two FA Cup finals and two League Cup finals by 2010.

But sadly, now playing as Leeds Carnegie under the patronage of Leeds Metropolitan University, the golden decade came to an unedifying end when the university opted out of applying to join the soon to be launched Women’s Super League and the club had to revert to second tier football.

Back to 2000-01 and while Leeds were set to move up to the National Division, their Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town were on their way down to the Northern Combination after finishing bottom of the table.

Meanwhile second bottom Newcastle Town were relegated to the Midland Combination after just one season in the Northern Division.

FINAL TABLE

FA WOMEN’S PREMIER LEAGUE NORTHERN DIVISION RESULTS 2000-01

20/8/2000
Aston Villa 1-3 Bangor City    
Huddersfield Town 2-1 Garswood Saints
Ilkeston Town 1-2 Leeds United
Newcastle Town 3-1 Oldham Curzon 
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1 Sheffield Wednesday

27/8/2000
Aston Villa 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Bangor City 4-2 Birmingham City
Coventry City 3-4 Garswood Saints
Huddersfield Town 0-1 Ilkeston Town
Leeds United 6-1 Newcastle Town
Oldham Curzon 6-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers

03/9/2000
Birmingham City 2-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Leeds United 6-1 Garswood Saints
Coventry City 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Ilkeston Town 2-2 Oldham Curzon  
Newcastle Town 0-1 Aston Villa    
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Bangor City    

10/9/2000
Bangor City 7-0 Newcastle Town
Leeds United 2-1 Huddersfield Town
Oldham Curzon 4-2 Aston Villa   
Sheffield Wednesday 6-2 Garswood Saints

17/9/2000
Aston Villa 2-2 Birmingham City
Coventry City 1-2 Bangor City 

20/9/2000
Huddersfield Town 1-4 Oldham Curzon

1/10/2000
Bangor City 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Birmingham City 5-3 Newcastle Town
Ilkeston Town 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Leeds United 3-0 Coventry City
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Garswood Saints

8/10/2000
Coventry City 1-4 Aston Villa    
Sheffield Wednesday 1-5 Oldham Curzon   
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Ilkeston Town

15/10/2000
Bangor City 3-3 Ilkeston Town
Newcastle Town 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Oldham Curzon 2-1 Leeds United

22/10/2000
Huddersfield Town 0-4 Aston Villa    
Ilkeston Town 3-3 Birmingham City
Leeds United 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Newcastle Town 1-1 Coventry City
Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Bangor City     

29/10/2000
Garswood Saints 2-1 Ilkeston Town
Newcastle Town 0-0 Huddersfield Town
Oldham Curzon 4-0 Coventry City

5/11/2000
Aston Villa 3-2 Ilkeston Town
Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Coventry City
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 Huddersfield Town

26/11/2000
Birmingham City 1-1 Coventry City

3/12/2000
Aston Villa 3-2 Oldham Curzon  
Garswood Saints 4-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Ilkeston Town 4-0 Coventry City
Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1 Birmingham City

7/1/2001
Bangor City 2-0 Garswood Saints

14/1/2001
Ilkeston Town 3-1 Huddersfield Town
Newcastle Town 1-4 Leeds United
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Oldham Curzon   

28/1/2001
Bangor City 3-2 Coventry City
Oldham Curzon 2-0 Huddersfield Town
Leeds United 7-1 Birmingham City

11/2/2001
Leeds United 5-2 Oldham Curzon   

18/2/2001
Birmingham City 0-3 Ilkeston Town
Oldham Curzon 1-0 Garswood Saints
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1 Coventry City       

25/2/2001
Coventry City 0-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Huddersfield Town 0-5 Wolverhampton Wanderers 
Ilkeston Town 1-2 Aston Villa     
Leeds United 2-2 Bangor City     

4/3/2001
Bangor City 1-2 Oldham Curzon   
Birmingham City 3-4 Garswood Saints
Coventry City 0-4 Leeds United
Ilkeston Town 2-1 Newcastle Town
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-3 Aston Villa     

7/3/2001
Garswood Saints 0-1 Oldham Curzon   

11/3/2001
Aston Villa 0-3 Leeds United
Birmingham City 0-1 Oldham Curzon   
Coventry City 0-2 Ilkeston Town
Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Newcastle Town

18/3/2001
Huddersfield Town 2-1 Coventry City
Ilkeston Town 3-1 Garswood Saints
Oldham Curzon 5-0 Sheffield Wednesday

22/3/2001
Oldham Curzon 4-0 Newcastle Town

25/3/2001
Aston Villa 4-1 Huddersfield Town
Bangor City 0-2 Leeds United
Garswood Saints 1-4 Birmingham City      
Sheffield Wednesday 1-3 Ilkeston Town
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Newcastle Town

1/4/2001
Coventry City 2-1 Newcastle Town
Huddersfield Town 0-3 Birmingham City
Ilkeston Town 1-1 Bangor City
Leeds United 1-2 Aston Villa    

4/4/2001
Huddersfield Town 0-3 Leeds United

8/4/2001
Bangor City 2-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Birmingham City 1-0 Huddersfield Town
Oldham Curzon 6-2 Ilkeston Town

10/4/2001
Sheffield Wednesday 0-3 Leeds United

13/4/2001
Garswood Saints 1-0 Huddersfield Town

15/4/2001
Birmingham City 0-1 Leeds United
Coventry City 0-3 Oldham Curzon   
Newcastle Town 1-0 Ilkeston Town

16/4/2001
Birmingham City 2-2 Bangor City
Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers

17/4/2001
Newcastle Town 5-2 Garswood Saints

18/4/2001
Leeds United 4-0 Ilkeston Town

22/4/2001
Aston Villa 4-0 Garswood Saints
Huddersfield Town 2-3 Sheffield Wednesday
Ilkeston Town 1-4 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Oldham Curzon 2-0 Birmingham City

25/4/2001
Huddersfield Town 0-2 Bangor City   
Garswood Saints 4-3 Newcastle Town
Leeds United 7-0 Sheffield Wednesday

26/4/2001
Birmingham City 1-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

29/4/2001
Garswood Saints 3-2 Coventry City
Huddersfield Town 2-1 Newcastle Town

1/5/2001
Newcastle Town 1-10 Birmingham City

2/5/2001
Aston Villa 8-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Garswood Saints 2-3 Leeds United

6/5/2001
Garswood Saints 2-2 Bangor City     

7/5/2001
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-5 Leeds United

8/5/2001
Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle Town

9/5/2001
Birmingham City 6-1 Aston Villa     

11/5/2001
Coventry City 1-1 Birmingham City

13/5/2001
Coventry City 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Garswood Saints 5-2 Aston Villa     
Newcastle Town 3-1 Bangor City  
Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Birmingham City

15/5/2001
Newcastle Town 0-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Sheffield Wednesday 5-1 Huddersfield Town

17/5/2001
Bangor City 0-0 Oldham Curzon 

20/5/2001
Aston Villa 1-1 Coventry City
Bangor City 4-0 Sheffield Wednesday

25/5/2001
Bangor City 0-0 Aston Villa