Player-coach Jen Wilson is wary of the threat posed by Sunday’s hosts Leicester as Canterbury Ladies aim to keep up the pace at the top of the Investec National Premier Division.

The second-placed city club head north for their sixth away game, and ninth overall this season at 2pm, seeking to close the three-point gap to leaders Surbiton against a side who have slipped down the table in recent seasons after years of success and were fourth-bottom until last weekend.

Wilson said: “It’s a Sunday fixture so I’m sure the girls will be twiddling their thumbs on Saturday.

“No game against Leicester is ever easy, we have a lot of respect for them and them for us. It’s going to be tough.”

Wilson admitted she was looking forward to the stage of the season when the city club could catch-up on home games, adding: “We always knew it would be a tough spell and that we had more than our fair share of away games before Christmas.

“Hopefully, we’ll get rewarded when we have home games later in the season. It’s still so early, the table hasn’t settled down yet and I’m not sure it will for a long time.”

Saturday’s 1-0 win in atrocious weather at the University of Birmingham gave Canterbury a five-point cushion over their hosts in the race for the play-offs.

Wilson said: “We knew the weather was going to play a factor but it was difficult, in the first half, in particular. You could hardly see.

“We had to make sure we made no sloppy errors and stayed in the game.

“We came out flying after half-time, applied pressure and looked solid. Even after we went 1-0 up, we dominated and controlled the game.

“It wasn’t the prettiest of games but it was a case of getting the job done and getting the points.”