'It's easy to panic' - Leeds United Women skipper Catherine Hamill on conceding, scoring, and looking the part

That’s why Rebecca Hunt found Bridie Hannon and I sat on the benches in the changing rooms baby-wiping our shoes. ‘What are you cleaning your boots for when you’re about to go out and get them mucky again?’ she asked.

She had a point, but at least we knew that when we walked out we’d be looking smart. Though, the captain’s armband is attached with velcro, which has frayed the sleeve of my shirt, so it was ironic that I was paying so much attention to my boots when my kit’s a bit ripped!

I ended up swapping my boots, anyway. I’m not used to wearing studs - they felt tight in the warm-up, so I put my moulds on instead.

But my boot troubles didn’t stop our team putting in a good performance as we beat Stockport 3-1 on Sunday. We defeated Stockport in the league on the first day of the season, but I felt we deserved the win more this time around.

There was a tricky moment in the second half when, at 2-0 up, we conceded a goal. When your cushion gets smaller, it can be quite stressful, and I was telling my team-mates ‘compose yourselves, relax, just play as we have been playing’, while playing silly balls myself.

I don’t understand how it can be so easy to panic. You see it a lot, however, even in the Premier League - when a trailing team narrows the lead with a goal, they’ll suddenly put more pressure on to try to get another while the other team rides the wave of it.

A commentator made that observation while I was watching West Ham United play Liverpool this weekend - it’s not often that one team is consistently on top for the full 90 minutes, there’s always a spell where the dynamics change, even for a small part.

Luckily we’ve got some cool heads in the team to help us settle down in those edgy situations, like Sarah Danby and Rebecca Hunt. Kirstie Hunt is very good at it too, she’s calm on the ball, and strong. You can trust her to hold the ball up which is exactly what you need from a defensive midfielder.

We had different goalscorers on Sunday, which is another big positive for us. Laura Bartup has scored loads for us, which we’re very grateful for, but it’s great to think that there’s others who can step up for the team. I was especially pleased to see Rebekah Bass get on the scoresheet in her first game back after missing out on a few weeks to injury.

My brother Thomas has been going on at me, asking ‘when will it be your turn to score Catherine?’ He’s scored a few already this season, including an important goal this weekend. He’s a centre-back, and the captain of his team too, so we are quite similar players - but he’s a bit louder than me, I think.

He’s a good goalscorer. I got two goals in pre-season, but I’m not sure how much longer I can hold onto those! We didn’t get many corners so my chance didn’t come on Sunday, but with Bass scoring I don’t mind so much, as at least one of the defenders bagged one.

Next up, we’re travelling to Hartlepool for an FA Cup First Round Proper tie on Sunday. They’re in tier five, the same league as Redcar Town Ladies who we beat 4-0 in the previous round last month. We’re expecting something similar, though Hartlepool are title contenders - they’ve not lost a league game yet - and they’ll have the home advantage. We won’t take it lightly.

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