Sunday March 27th
FA PREMIER LEAGUE
LEAGUE CUP SEMI-FINAL
Cardiff City LFC 3-0 Blackburn Rovers
NORTHERN DIVISION
Bradford City 2-0 Huddersfield Town
Guiseley AFC Vixens 0-2 Sporting Club Albion
Nottingham Forest 2-2 Preston North End
Nuneaton Town P-P Newcastle United
SOUTHERN DIVISION
C&K Basildon 1-6 Brighton & Hove Albion
Forest Green Rovers 0-3 Portsmouth
Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Lewes
NORTHERN DIVISION 1
Leeds 1-0 Mossley Hill
Norton & Stockton Ancients 1-3 Hull City
Stockport County 8-2 Blackpool Wren Rovers
Tranmere Rovers P-P Chester-le-Street Town
SOUTH EAST DIVISION 1
Crystal Palace 9-0 Lowestoft Town
Enfield Town 0-0 Norwich City
Gillingham P-P Milton Keynes Dons
Ipswich Town 2-2 Luton Town
SOUTH WEST DIVISION 1
Cheltenham Town 0-1 Southampton Saints
Chichester City P-P Maidenhead United
Shanklin P-P Keynsham Town
Swindon Town 3-0 Exeter City
Action from Cardiff’s win over Blackburn. (Photo: Rob Wilkins)
Cardiff reached the League Cup Final for the second time in three season when sending Blackburn to a 3-0 defeat. Two up at half-time, they added a third by the hour mark to seal a place in the final against Spurs at Kidderminster Harriers FC on May 8th.
Preston’s draw at Nottingham put them 8 points clear in the Northern Division but they are down to their last couple of games, whilst the chasing pack have games in hand. The point lifted Forest into fourth. Natasha Flint intercepted a pass to put Preston ahead but Forest were level on the half-hour through Megan Howard. North End regained the lead by the break when Charlotte Farrell rose highest to nod home from a free kick but Natasha Meade’s set piece on 71 minutes beat everyone to level the scores.
Bradford climbed to fifth with a 2-0 defeat of Huddersfield, Rosie McDonnell and Sarah Danby both leaving it late to score for City.
Sporting Club Albion won by a similar score at lowly Loughborough Foxes and Karen Clough took just a matter of seconds to get the first goal.
Brighton are two wins away from the Southern title after hitting C&K Basildon for six. Charlotte Gurr and Amy Taylor had Albion 2-0 up in 10 minutes, Claire Lacey pulled one back before Deanna Cooper scored either side of the interval, with Jay Blackie and Kate Natkiel ading one each.
Portsmouth went fourth with a 3-0 result at Forest Green, a scoreline which relegated their hosts. Lucy Quinn’s solo effort opened the scoring on 15 minutes, Leeta Rutherford volleyed in from a corner 7 minutes later and Shannon Sievwright followed up a half clearance to complete the scoring in first-half stoppage-time.
Spurs were 2-0 winners at home to Lewes, taking only 6 minutes to score, as Lucia Marte and Bianca Baptiste combined to set up Avilla Bergin to find the net. Sian Heather hit the bar for Lewes but Maya Vio played in Rosie Kmita for Tottenham’s second 4 minutes short of the interval.
Hull’s 3-1 win at Norton sent the home side nearer the Northern Division 1 drop. Ellice Jackman and Tonya Wild-Storr got second-half goals to decide the game, which was temporaily halted to thunder and lightning. Stockport improved their survival hopes with a notable 8-2 pasting of Blackpool, in which Katherine Jones hit a hat-trick and Bethany Langford a brace. Leeds moved within a point of fifth-placed Mossley by getting the only goal of the game against them. Jas Saxton on target after 36 minutes.
Crystal Palace’s 9-0 sinking of Lowestoft sent the Eagles 6 points clear in the South East. Gemma Bryan featured with a five-goal haul for Palace. Luton shared four goals at Ipswich, twice taking the lead through a deflected Natasha Fensome shot and team goal finished by Joanne Rutherford, Roxanne Small bagging both for the home side. Elsewhere, Enfield ended goalless with Norwich.
Swindon closed in on South West leaders Larkhall by sending Exeter home beaten 3-0, Meg Attenborough, Ellie Maynard and Meg Vella all scored in the first half. Southampton Saints single goal at Cheltenham was sufficient for all 3 points.
Pictured – Bradford on the attack against Huddersfield. (Photo: Stephen Winterburn)
