The final day of the 2018-19 FA Women’s National League campaign brought increased attendances almost across the board and runners-up honours for both Sunderland and Brighouse Town.
FAWNL results for Sunday 5 May
NORTHERN PREMIER
Blackburn Rovers 5-1 Guiseley Vixens
Doncaster Rovers Belles 0-3 Derby County
Fylde 3-1 Stoke City
Huddersfield Town 11-0 Bradford City (Att: 89)
Hull City 3-5 Nottingham Forest (Att: 126)
Sunderland 5-2 Sheffield FC (Att: 124)
SOUTHERN PREMIER
Cardiff City LFC 1-1 Coventry United (Att: 200)
Gillingham 2-2 Chichester City (Att: 52)
Loughborough Foxes 1-1 Oxford United (Att: 67)
Milton Keynes Dons 4-0 C&K Basildon
Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Portsmouth (Att: 135)
Watford 3-2 Plymouth Argyle (Att: 174)
DIVISION 1 MIDLANDS
Birmingham & West Midlands 9-2 Solihull Moors (Att: 42)
Sporting Khalsa 4-1 Bedworth United
Steel City Wanderers 0-4 Long Eaton United (Att: 65)
The New Saints 9-1 Burton Albion (Att: 60)
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-1 West Bromwich Albion (Att: 500)
DIVISION 1 NORTH
Burnley 1-0 Chorley (Att: 225)
Chester le Street Town 1-5 Norton & Stockton Ancients (Att: 50)
Crewe Alexandra 1-0 Bolton Wanderers
Leeds United 1-3 Brighouse Town (Att: 100)
Liverpool Feds 10-2 Morecambe (Att: 50)
Newcastle United 1-2 Barnsley (Att: 110)
DIVISION 1 SOUTH EAST
Actonians 0-1 AFC Wimbledon
Cambridge United 2-3 Ipswich Town (Att: 48)
Enfield Town 2-0 Denham United (Att: 96)
Leyton Orient 1-2 Crawley Wasps
Norwich City 4-2 Billericay Town (Att: 74)
Stevenage 3-0 Luton Town (Att: 70)
DIVISION 1 SOUTH WEST
Chesham United 6-1 Poole Town
Larkhall Athletic 1-1 Cheltenham Town (Att: 70)
Southampton Saints 0-1 Maidenhead United (Att: 14)
Southampton WFC 0-0 Buckland Athletic (Att: 38)
Swindon Town 3-2 Brislington (Att: 44)
Northern Premier – Sunderland finish second
Saffron Jordan and Natasha Flint bagged a brace each as Blackburn made it 23 wins from 24 games with a 5-1 victory over Guiseley.
Sunderland took the runners-up spot with a 5-2 result against Sheffield FC, Derby were well behind on goal-difference despite a 3-0 win at Doncaster.
Nottingham Forest took ninth place from Hull when beating them 5-3 away, having already been 3-1 up at half-time.
Fylde saw off Stoke 3-1 and Laura Elford got three as Huddersfield put eleven goals past Bradford, who have failed to register a point all season.
Southern Premier – Top two tie
Cardiff held champions Coventry to a 1-1 draw, Matt Wright ended an 11-year association with Chichester with a 2-2 tie at Gillingham but MK Dons pipped the Gills to ninth on goal-difference after a 4-0 scoreline over C&K Basildon, all the goals coming in the last 15 minutes.
Loughborough held Oxford 1-1 but had to settle for seventh, as Watford edged Plymouth 3-2 as Alysha Stojko-Down got the crucial third goal before Argyle pulled two back.
QPR claimed a second win of the season, 2-1 over Portsmouth with a Jo Wilson decider.
Division 1 Midlands – Wolves ruin West Brom’s perfect record
West Brom had won all their games until a last-day defeat at local rivals Wolves, for whom Jade Cross netted twice. Birmingham & West Midlands thrashed Solihull 9-2 to make sure of third spot. Sporting Khalsa beat Bedworth 4-1 to leapfrog them into fourth.
Division 1 North – Brighouse runners-up
Burnley’s Samantha Fleck got the only goal against Chorley as they ended 13 points clear. Brighouse came away from Leeds as 3-1 victors to take the runners-up spot from Chester le Street, beaten 5-1 at home by Norton for whom Bianca Owens scored three times. Liverpool Feds finished fifth after sending Morecambe to a 10-2 defeat, Emily Dougles with a five-goal haul, while Crewe signed off with a first win with the only goal from Amanda Fallon against Bolton.
Division 1 South East – Canaries staying up
Crawley topped the table by an eleven-point margin with a 2-1 win over Orient, with Billericay in second beaten 4-2 by Norwich – the Canaries staying out of the drop zone at the expense of Luton. Enfield defeated Denham 2-0 to claim third position, Becky McLaren-Johnson came off the bench to net an 81st-minute winner for AFC Wimbledon at Actonians. Ipswich won by the odd goal in five at Cambridge to pip them to seventh.
Division 1 South West – Maidenhead make their escape
Buckland were goalless with runners-up Southampton WFC, allowing Cheltenham to be sure of third with a 1-1 tie at Larkhall. Maidenhead escaped the relegation place with a single-goal success at Southampton Saints, Poole slipped to the bottom with a 6-1 reverse at Chesham.
