Nottingham Forest have to be “relentless” in pursuit of promotion to the Women’s Championship, says the Reds official overseeing the revamp of the team.
Forest have made the perfect start to the season and scored 19 goals in their past three games in all competitions.
And yet, they are third in the National League Northern Premier Division table, level on points with second-placed Burnley and leaders Rugby Borough.
“We have to be on our A-game at all times and we can’t let it slip,” said Amber Wildgust, Forest’s head of women’s and girl’s football.
“We need to be relentless because Burnley are a fantastic side, they have a great squad, a great manager, and Rugby Borough have been part of the game for a long time in different guises and they also have a fantastic manager as well with some good players.
“Relentless is the word we need to be.”
Forest’s strong start to the season in the third tier comes after a summer of huge change for the East Midlands club, which saw an influx of arrivals after it was announced the Reds would be moving towards full-time professionalism.
Former West Ham and Liverpool midfielder Kate Longhurst, who won the Women’s Super League title with the Merseyside club, is among the new signings.
Prolific forward Melissa Johnson dropped a division to join from Charlton Athletic, and has netted four goals to date.
She is among 10 players to have already found the back of the net as they have beaten Stoke 3-0, thrashed Wolves 6-1 and hammered Sporting Khalsa 7-0 in the league, while also putting six past Notts County in the FA Women’s National League Cup.
“It’s been a fantastic start,” Wildgust told BBC East Midlands Today.“It’s great to see how far we have come.”
Forest finished third in the National League Northern Premier Division table last season, having come within one win of promotion 12 months earlier.
“A lot has been happening behind the scenes for a long time, in terms of our playing philosophy, how we want to play and recruitment, so I put a lot of it down to the hard work of the staff and players last year.
“To then be able to level that up with the amount of players we have brought in with WSL experience, Championship experience, some young top talent and new staff, we have been able to elevate everything on and off the pitch.”