Leeds United Women boss Dan O'Hearne heaps praise on the Whites for FA Cup efforts

The Whites achieved their best FA Cup run for three seasons, progressing to the third round for the first time since 2019 with victories against Redcar Town, Hartlepool United, and Norton and Stockton Ancients.

For the third round, O'Hearne's side drew a home tie against Durham, who are fourth in the Championship - two leagues above the Whites' division.

The Wildcats knocked Leeds out of the competition with a 6-0 win at the Global Stadium on Sunday.

But O'Hearne was pleased with what his team achieved.

"I’m proud of the girls, they put a shift in today and that’s all we ask," O'Hearne said.

"They’ve done well [in the FA Cup]. We always knew this was going to be a really really tough game, we couldn’t have got a tougher draw, really.

"Durham are one of the top teams in England, they’ve got international players and we have to know where we’re at really.

"They’re a quality team, so that’s what we faced.

"They’re training twenty hours a week, we’re training four."

"I’ve said to them ‘watch the video back and learn from it.'

"Durham had clever movement, their fitness levels are super."

Leeds were able to keep the visitors at bay for much of the first half, with neither side creating many clear chances before Bridget Galloway broke the deadlock for Durham 35 minutes into the tie.

"For 35 minutes at 0-0, I was happy," O'Hearne told LUTV.

"They scored that first goal, a bit of a flukey goal.

"But they’re a quality team, they scored three goals before half time, which killed us a little bit.

"We competed for 35 minutes and we never gave up. Fitness levels were high, that was good.

Dan O'Hearne gave a special mention to one of the game's star performers, Whites goalkeeper Lauren Joyce, who made several impressive stops to keep the scoreline down.

“That save at the end there was unbelievable, wasn’t it? Point-blank range," O'Hearne said.

“She made a fantastic save in the first half as well. Really, really good."

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