Chichester City’s FAWNL Southern Premier title hopes were further hit by a 4-2 reverse at Cardiff Ctiy Ladies, Fylde went level on points with second-placed Northern Premier side Sunderland whom they beat 2-1.
FA WOMEN’S NATIONAL LEAGUE results for 24 February
NORTHERN PREMIER
Fylde 2-1 Sunderland
Middlesbrough 8-1 Bradford City (Att: 45)
Nottingham Forest 1-3 Guiseley Vixens (Att: 174)
Stoke City 2-2 Sheffield FC (Att: 130)
SOUTHERN PREMIER
Cardiff City LFC 4-2 Chichester City (Att: 150)
Loughborough Foxes 1-2 Watford (Att: 67)
Oxford United 1-0 Gillingham (Att: 107)
Plymouth Argyle 4-3 Queens Park Rangers (Att: 50)
MIDLANDS DIVISION 1
Bedworth United 2-1 Nettleham
Sporting Khalsa 4-0 Steel City Wanderers (Att: 20)
The New Saints 1-5 Birmingham & West Midlands (Att: 66)
West Bromwich Albion 2-1 Long Eaton United (Att: 58)
NORTHERN DIVISION 1
Bolton Wanderers 0-2 Chester le Street Town (Att: 40)
Brighouse Town 1-1 Leeds United (Att: 70)
Crewe Alexandra 2-2 Morecambe (Att: 28)
Norton & Stockton Ancients 4-5 Burnley (Att: 50)
SOUTH EAST DIVISION 1
AFC Wimbledon 1-4 Luton Town (Att: 30)
Cambridge United 1-2 Leyton Orient
Norwich City 2-3 Actonians (Att: 45)
Stevenage 0-2 Billericay Town (Att: 28)
SOUTH WEST DIVISION 1
Brislington 3-1 Maidenhead United (Att: 47)
Buckland Athletic 5-1 Poole Town (Att: 34)
Chesham United 8-0 Southampton Saints
Swindon Town 0-5 Southampton WFC
Northern Premier – Fylde’s Wild winner
Katie Barker cancelled out Sasha Rowe’s first-half finish for Fylde but Sunderland were defeated when Olivia Wild poked the ball home via the post.
Middlesbrough beat Bradford 8-1 as Emily Scarr claimed a double and there was a goal each for Holly Manders, Emma Foster, Leonie Hutchinson, Tyler Dodds and Eve Marshall.
Guiseley gained three points at Nottingham Forest to leapfrog them into eight spot, despite going behind to a penalty by goalkeeper Rebecca Thomas. Alarna Fuller hit back twice and Kirstie Hunt got a great third goal for the Vixens.
Sheffield FC are a point above the drop zone after sharing four goals at Stoke, who edge into fifth position on goal-difference. Kelsey Richardson and Ashleigh Hayes twice had City a goal up but the away team replied through Milly Wortley and a Holly Housley penalty.
Southern Premier – Cardiff check Chichester hopes
Cardiff moved within five points of Chichester with two games in hand after sending them to a 4-2 defeat. A 3-0 deficit was too much for City to recover from, although Jess Lewry and Cherelle Khassel both scored to give them hope.
Watford won 2-1 at Loughborough Foxes even though they went behind to a Rebecca McGrother goal. Helen Ward made it 1-1 and Alysha Stojko-Down decided it on 84 minutes.
Oxford edged Gillingham as Flo Fyge got the only goal of the game, Lucy Thomas having made a crucial penalty save to deny Gills’ Ellie Manning on half time.
QPR are still without a win, Jo Wilson doing her best for the side with a hat-trick at Plymouth but Argyle taking the points 4-3, two goals from Zoe Cunningham, singles for Jessie Jones and Mollie Taylor.
Midlands Division 1 – West Brom win again
West Brom won for the fourteenth straight match, 2-1 against Long Eaton, Nat Murray and Rachel Howard on target while Amy Pashley replied with a last-minute penalty.
Eva Gallop bagged a brace, Emily Painter, Natalie Gibson and Lauryn Bryan singles as Birmingham & West Midlands went second with a 5-1 result at TNS.
Bedworth battled past Nettleham with a five-minute Sophie Wilson double, Abigail Murrell getting one back with 11 minutes left.
Steel City – who have just a single point to their name – held Sporting Khalsa to a goalless first half but let in four after the interval.
Northern Division 1 – Cestrians go second
Sarah Greenhalgh got two goals, Linny Craig, Vikki Eastwood and Dani Cooper one each as leaders Burnley edged a nine-goal thriller at Norton, Bianca Owens’ hat-trick for the hosts coming all in vain.
Chester le Street came away from Bolton with a good 2-0 result to go second in the table.
Brighouse drew 1-1 with Leeds, Charlotte Proud with a late penalty for Town after Emma Lee opened for United also from the spot.
Crewe claimed only a second point of the season in a 2-2 basement draw against Morecambe. Bethany Grice and Lauren Cooper struck for the Alex but the Shrimpers wiped out the 2-0 lead in the last quarter of an hour.
South East Division 1 – Rare win for Hatters
Lowly Luton had a fine 4-1 success at mid-table AFC Wimbledon, Zara Carroll’s free kick added to by Dionne Manning, Remi Bains and Jess McKay.
Billericay cut Crawley Wasps’ lead to four points with Zoe Rushen and Sam Pittuck the scorers at Stevenage.
Actonians won by the odd goal in five at Norwich, Orient came from behind to win at Cambridge and go fourth, Amber Cantwell firing the U’s in front, Sophie Le Marchand and Suaila Cardoso Queni replying – both set up by Egle Trezzi.
South West Division 1 – Southampton Women stretch lead
Southampton WFC’s 5-0 scoreline at Swindon Town sent them nine points clear, Manu Naprta, Jane Yeates, Nat Bavister and Hannah Samuels among the goals.
Chesham thrashed Southampton Saints 8-0 with a five-goal haul from Gemma Fraser to go third.
Buckland’s 5-1 defeat of Poole featured a Sarah-Louise Stacey treble, while Brislington beat Maidenhead 3-1.
