Doncaster Rovers Belles remain top of WSL 2 after coming from behind to win at Durham and there were victories elsewhere for Brighton & Hove Albion, Millwall Lionesses and Tottenham Hotspur.
Sunday 11th February
FA WSL 2
Durham 1-2 Doncaster Rovers Belles (Att: 407)
Aston Villa 0-2 Millwall Lionesses (Att: 167)
Brighton & Hove Albion 3-1 London Bees (Att: 240)
Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 Oxford United (Att: 130)
Watford P-P Sheffield FC
Belles fight back to beat defeat Durham
WSL 2 leaders, Doncaster Rovers Belles had to came from behind to win 2-1 at Durham.
Sarah Wilson met Beth Hepple’s corner with a powerful header to give the Wildcats a 15th-minute lead.
Doncaster drew level just before the half-hour, Emily Simpkins pipping on-rushing Helen Alderson to the ball to finish into the empty net.
Belles’ keeper Nicky Davies turned a long-range Hepple hit onto the bar, with Simpkins then denied a second at the other end by Grace McCatty’s block.
Zoe Ness hit the underside of the Belles’ bar at the start of the second half but it was the visitors who went 2-1 up, with an impressive Jess Sigsworth dipping volley on 61 minutes.
Doncaster goalscorer Jess Sigsworth added: “It was really tough based on the weather; in the first half we were up against the wind and our game plan was to go down the channels and that wasn’t really working for us.
“It was a bit scrappy and we were second to the ball. At half-time we got a bit of a telling off and we came out fighting and I think that is where we showed our true class. We are top of the league and we do have a tough mentality.”
Durham defender Becky Salicki said: “Donny scored a fantastic goal from outside of the box which nobody could have stopped. We battled with them and matched them and I think a draw would have been a fair result but it is who scores who gets the points.
“I don’t think they really broke us down, defensively we did very well through the units and we attacked in places but the weather didn’t really help at all. You could see the ball was going one way and it would come back to you because of the wind. It was hard work.”
Devlin brace defeats Villa
Charlie Devlin scored twice in the last 20 minutes to give second-placed Millwall Lionesses the points at Aston Villa.
Sarah Quantrill pulled off a couple of smart first-half stops for the Lionesses, from a Beth Merrick free kick and an Ebony Salmon shot when put through by Jodie Hutton.
In the opening minutes of the second period, a defensive mix-up by Villa let Megan Wynne in but goalkeeper Sian Rogers came to their rescue.
The deadlock was broken by Millwall on 70 minutes, Devlin firing home from the edge of the box.
Elisha Ndow’s dangerous ball across the face of goal was cleared by Millwall’s Leighanne Robe, with Devlin tapping home a last-minute second goal from Rianna Dean’s delivery to seal the away win.
Brighton beat battling Bees
London Bees stung the Seagulls with an early goal but three from Brighton before the break saw Albion advance into third place.
Paula Howells cut inside to fire London Bees into a 3rd-minute lead but Hope Powell’s side were quickly level as Nicola Hobbs could not keep out Dani Buet’s free kick.
The Seagulls then went in front as Buet sent Ini Umotong through on goal to find the bottom corner and in was 3-1 before the interval, with Aileen Whelan netting at the far post as Bees failed to clear the corner.
The Bees pressured Brighton after the restart but without any reward, with Howells twice thwarted by Marie Hourihan and Emma’s Beckett’s 30-yard effort going inches over.
Tottenham’s turnaround sends them sixth
Tottenham Hotspur scored twice in the last quarter of the match to overturn Oxford United’s interval advantage and move up two places to sixth.
Spurs found themselves a goal down on 25 minutes. Ellis Hillman’s drilled cross headed in by Chloe Chivers.
Oxford keeper Demi Lambourne denied Wendy Martin in a one-on-one and the same forward was inches from turning in Bianca Baptiste’s set-piece, leaving Spurs still behind at half time.
The scores were levelled om 68 minutes when Hannah Short was penalised for handball in the box and although Renée Hector’s spot-kick was saved, Coral Haines guided the rebound home.
The winner came a dozen minutes from time, Baptiste’s cross turned in at the back post by Ryah Vyse.
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Quotes by Sportsbeat
