Watford were the only one of the five former WSL teams to make a winning start after dropping into the FA Women’s National League.
Sunday 19th August
FA WOMEN’S NATIONAL LEAGUE
NORTHERN PREMIER DIVISION
Doncaster Rovers Belles 0-9 Blackburn Rovers (Att: 169)
Huddersfield Town 2-0 Sheffield FC (Att: 93)
Hull City 0-4 Stoke City (Att: 60)
Middlesbrough 0-3 Derby County (Att: 240)
Nottingham Forest 3-0 Bradford City (Att: 105)
Sunderland 0-1 Fylde
SOUTHERN PREMIER DIVISION
C & K Basildon 0-6 Portsmouth (Att: 69)
Chichester City 2-1 Oxford United (Att: 200)
Gillingham 0-0 Coventry United (Att: 70)
Loughborough Foxes 7-0 Queens Park Rangers
Milton Keynes Dons 3-4 Plymouth Argyle (Att: 160)
Watford 5-2 Cardiff City LFC (Att: 151)
MIDLANDS DIVISION 1
Burton Albion 7-1 Solihull Moors (Att: 120)
Nettleham 4-1 The New Saints (Att: 50)
Sporting Khalsa 3-2 Long Eaton United (Att: 30)
Steel City Wanderers 0-11 Wolverhampton Wanderers (Att: 65)
West Bromwich Albion 4-2 Birmingham & West Midlands
NORTHERN DIVISION 1
Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Newcastle United
Brighouse Town 0-2 Liverpool Feds (Att: 40)
Burnley 0-3 Chester le Street Town (Att: 60)
Chorley 5-4 Norton & Stockton Ancients
Leeds United 4-0 Crewe Alexandra (Att: 100)
SOUTH EAST DIVISION 1
AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Cambridge United (Att: 50)
Crawley Wasps 5-1 Ipswich Town (Att: 74)
Denham United 0-3 Billericay Town
Enfield Town 5-1 Norwich City (Att: 61)
Luton Town 0-1 Leyton Orient (Att: 33)
Stevenage 5-2 Actonians (Att: 25)
SOUTH WEST DIVISION 1
Brislington 4-7 Cheltenham Town (Att: 74)
Keynsham Town 9-0 Buckland Athletic
Larkhall Athletic 4-0 Chesham United (Att: 30)
Southampton WFC 8-1 Poole Town (Att: 189)
St Nicholas P-P Maidenhead United
Swindon Town 1-2 Southampton Saints (Att: 52)
Northern Premier – Blackburn blow away Belles
It was a difficult day for Doncaster, as the Belles were thumped 9-0 at home by reigning champions Blackburn, for whom Saffron Jordan netted a treble and Kayleigh McDonald a couple.
Middlesbrough were unable to reward their fine turn out of 240 with a win at the their new Billingham home, as Derby went away 3-0 victors. Nicole Ledgister’s opener was added to close to the break by Andi Bell and Jodie Redgrace rounded off the win late on.
Nottingham Forest did mark their first game at Carlton Town with three points though, with as many goals past Bradford City. Charlie Griffin, Amy Dicken (penalty) and Georgia Hewitt all scored in the second 45.
Huddersfield scored twice in the last 17 minutes to defeat Sheffield FC 2-0, Katie Nutter and Brittany Sanderson on target.
Hull’s first game at this level resulted in a 4-0 home reverse to Stoke. Faye McCoy and Kelsey Richardson had the Potters two up at the midway point, Holly Chipman added a goal on her debut and Hannah Keryakoplis completed the scoring.
Southern Premier – Pilgrims let three-goal lead slip but Knapman nets four
Watford were the only team dropping out of the WSL that began life in the FAWNL with a win, seeing off Cardiff City Ladies 5-2. Helen Ward kicked off with a hat-trick, Andrea Carid adding a double.
Chichester edged Oxford 2-1 in front of a 200-strong crowd, Sara Tubby and Molly Clark finding the net before Ellie Noble pulled one back from a late free kick.
MK Dons lost out in a seven-goal thriller at Stadium MK to Plymouth. Argyle needed all Tash Knapman’s four goals, as they let a 3-0 lead slip.
Promoted Loughborough Foxes lashed QPR 7-0, including a Shauna Chambers rocket.
? REPLAY! Did someone say banger ? @s_chambers92 pic.twitter.com/XQCDiC2XLF
— LoughboroughFoxesFC (@LboroFoxes) August 19, 2018
Portsmouth hit hosts C & K Basildon for six, Daisy McLachlan with half of that tally, Hannah Geer with a brace and Shannon Albuery the other.
Gillingham played out a goalless draw with Coventry United.
Midlands Div 1 – Walker in a Wolverhampton wonderland
Wolves stormed to an 11-0 win at Steel City, where Lowri Walker led the way with a four-goal haul. Nettleham’s first ever Tier 4 game ended in a very good 4-1 result over TNS, all their goals coming before half time. West Brom came from 2-0 down to win 4-2 against Birmingham & West Midlands, goals from Hattie James and new signings Reia Henry, Fran Orthodoxu and Rachel Howard. Burton sank Solihull 7-1 including three from Hayleigh Sutton, Sporting Khalsa just got the better of Long Eaton 3-2 after twice coming from behind.
Northern Div 1 – Chorley win nine-goal thriller at Victory Park
Liverpool Feds took the points 2-0 at Brighouse as Rosie Kinvig and Lynsey Longhurst netted, the hosts having Aimi Beresford sent off in the 36th minute. A Bianca Owens brace among three first-half goals for Norton at Chorley was not enough for the returning Ancients, the hosts eventually edging it 5-4. Burnley’s league bow was a 3-0 home reverse by Chester le Street, whose Rachel Mellor got the ball rolling with a free kick. Bolton beat Newcastle 2-1 and Leeds put four past Crewe.
South East Div 1 – Maximum points for newcomers
Crawley made an impressive league debut, the Wasps winning 5-1 against Ipswich, with a couple each from Sian Heather and Faye Rabson. Billericay also began in fine fashion, 3-0 winners at Denham where Lucy Jones, Lindsey Morgan and Sam Puttock struck.. Katie Stanley’s first-half goal for Wimbledon was cancelled out by Cambridge’s Kayleigh-Anne Burt. Nicole Emmings scored twice as Stevenage sent Actonians to a 5-2 loss. Enfield also got five against Norwich as Jodie Bellinger netted three of them and Orient got the game’s only goal at Luton through Chanel Richards.
South West Div 1 – Rocking second-half from Robins
Annie Martin scored four as Cheltenham came from 2-1 down at the break to win a 7-4 goalfest at Brislington. There was a near 200 crowd for Southampton WFC at their new Blackfield & Langley base, where Poole went down 8-1, Roxy Lee-Stewart and Jane Yeates with two apiece. Southampton Saints won by the best of three goals at Swindon, tow of which were scored by Catherine Browning. Buckland suffered a harsh introduction, conceding nine at Keynsham where Kerry Bartlett hit five and Justine Lorton three. Katy-May O’Hara-Nash hit a hat-trick as Chesham’s return was met with a 4-0 defeat at Larkhall. Sadly, the FAWNL has lost St Nicholas due to a lack of players.
