Leeds United’s final game of the season against Merseyrail was never destined to be a vintage fixture. At the tight end of Division One North, title contenders Durham Cestria and Newcastle United are tied on points with one match remaining, while at the other, saggier end, Merseyrail swallowed their fate many weeks ago, with just eight points to show for 22 games.

Somewhere between, Leeds sit in no man’s land. They accepted a different kind of indifference a while back, when it became clear that their hopes of achieving promotion to the FAWNL Northern Premier would not materialise this time. Though United’s away form has been poor this season, they’ve performed consistently enough at their home ground of Tadcaster Albion to ensure that relegation has long been out of the question, too.

Since impressive runs in the FA Cup and FAWNL Plate drew focus mid-term, United have been forced to deal with back-to-back three-game weeks in order to complete their league fixtures. In March, Leeds’ emphatic 3-1 FAWNL Plate final win over Stourbridge made them national champions for the first time since 2010. But they’ve failed to follow up a statement-making trophy lift with a statement-making end to the league season, losing four, winning two and drawing one.

It’s not promotion form and it doesn’t send a message to next year’s title rivals. But isn’t it true that you learn more as a team when you lose? In some ways, what better crash course could a coach so fond of a growth mindset as Rick Passmoor ask for?

Merseyrail, then. At best, it was a chance for Leeds to bump up their away form, to end the season on a riotous note against a side who have been conceding, on average, close to three goals per game. At worst, it was a banana skin. Passmoor complains of the cup final approach that teams often bring to battle the badge of Leeds United; relegated Merseyrail’s season is so far behind them that they didn’t bring any substitutes for the visit of their marquee opponents. It was as dead a rubber as you will get, yet for the basement team to claim just their second league win of the season on Sunday would have sent Passmoor’s players into the summer break with a bad taste in their mouth.

Thank goodness for Macy Ellis’ 59th-minute winner. Neither side had created much so it was momentarily devastating when Abbie Brown’s delivery, one of the most dangerous things to have happened all day, looked wasted as its intended target Jess Rousseau fell to the floor. Leeds were cross about it, still calling for a penalty when Ellis steamed in to slam the ball home at the back post.

Ellis’ reaction was subdued, crestfallen, as though she’d just heard bad news rather than wellied a football into a net. Of course, she didn’t know then that it was to be a match-winning goal or that she’d be dubbed ‘Leeds’ brightest player on the day’ in the club site’s match report. But then, what’s taking the lead when three points mean nothing, and what’s being the best performer in a game the opposition bench couldn’t be bothered turning up to?

Similarly, no one looked devastated when a chance went begging five minutes later. Merseyrail’s Gemma Lancaster was the first player to it when Camp’s thigh stopped Brown’s free kick, sending a trickling ball across the six yard box, and the last person called on for heroics before the game petered out peacefully.

When the referee called time on Merseyrail’s 16th league defeat of the season, the home coaching staff could hardly have looked more delighted. The Liverpool side have been in trouble since the first day of the season, but it had been a trouble-free Sunday afternoon for all concerned.

The deep trouble that the Whites’ Premier League side were simultaneously staring in the face on the south coast did not stem the joie de vivre of diehard United fan and injured club captain Bekki Bass, who was captured on Bridie Hannon’s Instagram giving a passionate rendition of Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA on the coach home.

Good. A takeover by our woso-loving friends across the pond could mean huge things for Passmoor’s players, but it’s out of the hands of Bass and her team-mates. I don’t suppose Jack Harrison had the women’s 49ers-backed promotion that could never be on the brain as he slumped in the Dean Court dugout, and I can’t imagine anyone cracked a smile on the journey back from Bournemouth. Who wants to be at the top of the pyramid, anyway, when a coach home from Merseyside in the fourth tier is this much fun?

Really, they all do, and manager Rick Passmoor is confident they’re well on their way. Taking over Leeds in August, he could no more easily build Rome overnight than a world-beating United team in one season. Like wearing in a new pair of shoes, it hasn’t always looked comfortable as he and his players get to know one another.

Passmoor dropped ‘attachment theory’ into his season-summarising interview, referring to psychologist John Bowlby’s proposal that a person’s normal social and emotional development depends on the establishment of a secure relationship with their primary caregiver in infancy. In coaching, this means tailoring communication to the individualities of each player rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Speaking to the Extra Ball in March, standing captain Olivia Smart claimed that Passmoor is “categorically the best people manager I have ever met in football.”

“He has this skill to just assess and manage players as individuals while they’re in a group,” she said. “He reads a scenario very well, he understands what people need without asking them.”

This understanding is already paying dividends, but will become more essential as the team becomes more professional and the needs of individuals who are training alongside working life are delicately balanced.

A lot has been asked of the players this year. From knowing more about Division One North and the crippling effect of a good cup run, Passmoor may choose to revise United’s approach to knockout contests as they go for promotion again next term. But getting blinded by a champagne-wielding Rachel Hindle as you lift a trophy and swapping shirts with the England captain after a fourth round FA Cup tie are the kind of foundational memories most young teams can only dream of. If early-stage bonding is essential, then Passmoor’s Leeds will surely thrive.

“It’s been a fantastic effort by all the players, all the staff,” he said. “Have a rest. Look at the new strategy. Look at how we want to build forward, and be ready for potentially late June, beginning of July and get ready to come and do the hard mileage.

“There’s going to be a lot of hard love to make sure that we’re at the right end of the table and of women’s football.” ⬢