Sheffield United lost 1-0 to Leicester City in their WSL2 opener at Bramall Lane

New signing Lucy Quinn said there were plenty of positives to take for Sheffield United Women, despite their opening day defeat to Leicester City on Sunday.

The Blades went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat to the newly relegated side after Leanne Cowan’s goal in the second half - assisted by former United player Sam Tierney.

The visitors went down to 10 players late in the game when Emilia Pelgander was sent off for picking up two yellow cards - the latter for kicking the ball away - and that sparked a further push for an equaliser from the Blades but their efforts were, ultimately, in vain.

For Quinn, making her debut for the Blades, there remains excitemet for the season ahead with Leicester always likely to be one of the toughest tests of the campaign.

“I think we've got more than enough in the squad to compete, it's just getting over the line and tidying up on those little things,” she said. “Today we're really unlucky with the goal that we conceded and yes, it's the first time a lot of us have played together so there's a lot of work to do but some real positives.”

“I mean my initial feeling coming off the pitch is obviously disappointment but I'm actually really excited to be part of the group. In the last 10 minutes or however long when they went down to 10 players you could tell that we believed in ourselves a little bit more and it's just about getting together as a group now and saying it doesn't need to take the other team losing a player for us to have that belief and conviction going forward.

“We've definitely got the talent in the squad and I think that will that will come in the next few weeks if not very soon.”

Part of that will be the squad getting fitter as the season goes on and allowing time for the new signings to gel.

“I didn't feel my fittest, my sharpest and you know I've not had the longest pre-season but you know sometimes it takes a couple of league games to get yourself up to the standard that you want to be,” added Quinn.

“The squad that we have are so talented and all of the subs that came on today impacted the game and that's what you need and so I think that's also a real positive and you know the depth that we have is something that we can utilise.”