“THE BIGGEST thing is leaving that legacy and getting young girls playing.”

So said York City Ladies manager Steph Turnbull when discussing how conscious she is about inspiring potential female football players.

York will be back at the LNER Community Stadium for the second time this season on Sunday, when they take on Norton and Stockton (2pm) in the FA Women’s National League division one north.

City are looking for a swift return to form, having fallen to defeat in their previous three division games, in which they faced Newcastle, Durham Cestria and Barnsley.

“We’re a team that want to do well in the league and push on and get to as high a level as we can,” noted Turnbull. “But the biggest thing is leaving that legacy and getting young girls playing.

“As a club, we’re under the Foundation, we’ve got the RTC (regional talent squad), the development squad.

“We’re really building a club where we’re offering football to everyone, whether it’s the RTC programme or the Ladies.

“To keep filtering those players through and keep inspiring them is amazing, the more girls that play, it’s only going to improve the sport.

“Not only that, (but it’s) kind of lifelong for health and wellbeing, all things like that, if we can get them involved in a sport they love and enjoy.

“Socially, making friends and things, it’s going to have a better impact and a positive one in the area.

“Anything we can do, like that, is amazing and a real buzz for the area and for us as a club to keep growing.”

Against Leeds in October, 2,280 fans came to watch the Minsterbelles in their first-ever game at the LNER.

York battled out a 1-1 draw against their Yorkshire rivals.

“I think the atmosphere (against Leeds) was brilliant,” reflected Turnbull. “It was obviously a night game and sometimes night game’s have a different feel about them anyway.

“The amount of people that came and the after effects of that. We’ve had some of the girls that have come down to some of our other home games at York St John.

“We’ve had a lot of social media buzz, the lasting effects of the game like that. The Leeds game at the stadium was a brilliant experience and we got the draw that day, so we’re hoping to go one further on Sunday.

“The game will be another brilliant experience and one that shows the club is really stepping in the right direction with what we can offer the girls and what the girls can achieve with us and playing on big stages like that.

“It did (take us by surprise), yeah. 2,000 to one of the girls games is brilliant and it’s more than, I think, all of them have played in front of before.

“It was brilliant, I think the atmosphere when we scored as well, the roar from the crowd, it really spurred the girls on, so hopefully we’ll get a nice crowd on Sunday.

“I don’t think we’ll beat our 2,000 but if we get more numbers through the door, more people watching the girls and for the girls to inspire as well, then we’re doing what we need to be doing. We’re doing our jobs.

“Fingers crossed for a big crowd on Sunday, cheering the girls on to, hopefully, a win.”