Belles manager Andy Butler felt Sunday's 3-0 victory at Holwell Sports was a good marker of how far his side have progressed.
The same fixture last September ended 4-2 in favour of the hosts - then known as Leicester United - yet this weekend the Belles left the field feeling they should have secured an even larger winning margin.
Butler said: "Credit to the players, it' a clean sheet, three goals and three points to get us back to winning ways. Last season we'd have begged for a win, but now we're getting wins and picking the finer details out of it. We've come a long way, a lot of credit goes to the girls for their work-rate and the standards they set.
"It's good that we've got to the end of the game and we're asking the girls what they could have done better, they know themselves they can still do better than that. But we've played three games in eight days, there were a few tired legs and they've given us everything."
Lily Harrison was drafted back into the starting XI for the Belles, with Nadia Khan dropping to the bench but making an instant impact with a goal little over 60 seconds after her introduction to the match.
Butler added: "We spoke to Nadia before the game and there was a plan of gaining control of the game and exploiting weaknesses we thought they had - we had a plan of keeping her fresh for the second half and really impose herself with her direct running.
"Lily did well, she came on against Lincoln and ran around which is the minimum requirement - the work ethic we want is there. And Emily Gillott and Amber-Leigh Denny did well when they came on, it was good to get them some game time. It's up to these players now to show me they should be in the starting positions - we've got some healthy competition now."
