TASH Stephens believes the current Oxford United Women squad is the strongest she has been a part of.

The winger joined the club in January, becoming the third player to arrive from league rivals Crawley Wasps in less than six months.

Stephens was part of the Crawley side which led Southern Premier Division during the 2019/20 season, however that campaign was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic.

Discussing her United teammates, Stephens said: “It’s absolutely insane how strong this squad is, I’ve never been in a squad that’s stronger than this.

“We know that any XI can perform and do a very job for us.

“It’s a good thing because it makes us bring it at training every week.

“You’ve got to train well, you’ve got to play well, but also you push each other on.

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“The squad depth is absolutely incredible and I feel very lucky to be a part of it.

“We know as a team we’ve got so much attacking talent and depth.

“We’ve been clinical lately and I’m glad it’s resulted in wins, it doesn’t matter who’s scoring as long as we’re winning.”

The U’s are second in Southern Premier Division, two points behind league leaders Ipswich Town.

Liam Gilbert’s side though have two games in hand on their Suffolk rivals.

Stephens reckons other teams in the division will be aiming for a scalp when they come up against United.

She said: “At the top of the league, you’ve got a bit of a target on you and people want to beat you and get those bragging rights.

“Unfortunately we experienced that against Cheltenham when we lost against them.

“It was probably good for us, it’s made us realise that people are going to be raising their games and bringing it for us.

“We know it’s in our control and we need to focus on what we can control, we can’t think about anyone else.

“We’re lucky in the sense that we’ve got the job done up until now and it’s up to us to finish that and we don’t have to rely on other people.

“They might be looking at us and wishing they were in our position but we’ve got to play all three of them so they’ll be looking at it and thinking they can turn it back in their favour.

“For us, it’s about looking at what we can control.”

Stephens added: “Our league is pretty tough, anyone can beat anyone.

“We need to be on it every week, we’ve got some hard fixtures left but to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best.

“We just need to keep focused and keep working hard.”