Reading Women boss Kelly Chambers believes 34-year-old star Fara Williams is still getting better.
The veteran midfielder, who has more caps for England than anyone else, has thrived in her new attacking role since joining the Royals last summer, scoring 10 goals last campaign.
And she kicked off the 2018/19 campaign in style on Sunday with a hat-trick as Reading eased past Durham 4-1 in the Conti Cup.
“We saw from last year what Fara can bring us higher up the pitch and I think she’s just continued that,” said Royals boss Chambers.
“From what we’ve seen over pre-season, when she’s been in games she’s probably even better in front of goal now than what she was last year so it’s good to see her get another hat-trick.
“I think she got one in pre-season not long ago so it’s good to see her do that and I just hope it continues.”
Kirsty Pearce got the ball rolling for Reading’s season, firing in after the ball fell to her from a set piece before Williams took over with a treble, cancelling out Beth Hepple’s penalty for the visitors.
That puts the Royals top of the early group standings, ahead of this weekend’s opponents Manchester United, who beat Liverpool 1-0 on Sunday. Everton are also part of the five-team Group Two North with the top two progressing to the knockout phase.
“I think it would be nice for us to get to a cup final,” said Chambers.
“We get put in the Northern section for whatever reason but every game is a challenge for us.
“Whether it’s someone in the lower league or someone that’s in the same league, we know that different teams are going to give us different challenges and that’s the exciting thing about this season.
“We’re in a tough group but we need to make sure that as long as we’re delivering, I think we’ll come out with the results that we want.”
Reading’s squad had a threadbare look to it for the clash with Durham. New goalkeeper Rachael Laws was part of a four-person bench alongside right-back Becky Jane and teenagers Lily Woodham and Kiera Skeels, who are yet to make their debuts.
But Chambers says a host of star names are close to returning to action.
“All the new signings have settled in really well but the exciting bit for me at the minute is the players I’ve got coming back from injury,” she said.
“I’ve still got Jade Moore to return to the squad, I’ve still got Remi Allen, I’ve still got Charlie Estcourt, Rachel Furness, they’re all coming back and that’s the exciting thing for me.
“I’ve still got strong players coming back to then start competing with the starting 11 and the girls that have been on the bench.
“The squad is exciting, I’m just waiting for everyone to be fit and ready to go.”
She added: “They’re literally weeks away, which is nice for me.
“We’ll probably see a couple of them in the first league game and a couple of others just a little bit later.
“You could see how small my squad was (against Durham) with the people that I had on the bench. To have everyone fit and raring and ready to go is the most important thing for me.
“Then it’s a case of the squad can start challenging each other and hopefully that will push us as individuals and us as a team even more this season.
“At the end of last season we decided to get stuff done and cleaned up (with the injuries).
“It was important for those players to get that done so they were ready for this season and they wouldn’t have the same problems that they had last year.
“I knew about them early enough that I knew that they were not going to be ready for the start of the season. But I knew that once the work was done, they’d be alright during the season.”
