STEPH TURNBULL is hoping for “six points before Christmas” with York City Ladies as they prepare for a game at the LNER Community Stadium.

York will host Norton and Stockton on Sunday (2pm) in the FA Women’s National League division one north.

It will be the second game this season that City have played at the LNER, having previously hosted Leeds United Women in October.

In a game that drew over 2,200 fans, Turnbull will be hoping that the Minsterbelles can put in a similarly impressive performance, having lost their last three games.

“We played them (Norton) in the first game of the season, we drew with them,” reflected Turnbull. “As a group of players, they’ve improved a lot since that game.

“We’re hoping for a win on Sunday. We’ve had a few difficult fixtures and a couple of difficult games in the cup.

“We’ve played the top three the last three games, so it’s been a difficult run-in. We’re hoping to spin that on its head a little bit, get three points and mostly, a positive performance from the girls.

“They’ve been playing well, but unfortunately we’ve come up against some good opposition the last couple of weeks.

“Fingers crossed we can keep doing that, we’ve got two more games before Christmas.

“Norton on Sunday at the stadium and then Stockport next week away. Four points minimum, hopefully.

“Fingers crossed we can get six points before Christmas, that’ll put us in a nice place in the league.”

Though they have lost three-straight games, those defeats have come against Newcastle, Durham Cestria and Barnsley, who currently occupy the top three positions in the league.

York, despite their strong start, are still a newly-promoted side that are coming to terms with a new league.

“We’re a newly promoted side, a lot of the players, this is their first time playing at this level,” said Turnbull.

“It was always going to be a difficult season for us, adapting to the league and what it offers. I thought we had a really good start which was brilliant, we got points on the board which is a real positive.

“But we have just come up against those experienced sides that have been in the league a long time, the players know the league.

“We do have a really young side. Sometimes you just come up against better teams that know the league more, more experienced players that have played at that level for a long time.

"It’s been frustrating at times, because some of it has been down to our own mistakes rather than just conceding a really good goal.

“It’s something we’ve done, kind of, in the run up to that. That’s an area we need to improve on.

“Even though we’ve had a rough couple of weeks in terms of results, I think we’re still in a good place as a newly-promoted side.

“I’d like to think we carry on going and we can stay in the league for next season and then it’s for us to stake our claim in that league.”