Bristol City are within one victory of the Barclays Women’s Championship title after they won at Sunderland and London City Lionesses lost at Southampton.
Charlton Athletic 2-0 Durham
Lewes 1-0 Blackburn Rovers (Att: 694)
Sunderland 0-5 Bristol City
Coventry United 0-4 Sheffield United
Crystal Palace 2-4 Birmingham City
Southampton 1-0 London City Lionesses
Scenes! 🥰 pic.twitter.com/eKsJUBVxHo
— Bristol City WFC (@bristolcitywfc) April 16, 2023
Bristol City banked three more points in the title race with five goals at Sunderland and now need one point from two games to seal promotion. The Robins took a 35th-minute lead, Brooke Aspin forcing a spectacular save from Claudia Moan but Shania Hayles scored on the rebound. Five minutes later and Hayles latched onto Grace Clinton’s through-ball to double her tally from the edge of the area. The Black Cats’ Grace McCatty was denied by the bar, before Ella Powell marked her 50th City appearance with her first goal. Jazz Bull later came off the bench to score with her first to touch and Abi Harrison got the fifth.
London City Lionesses hopes of the title took a knock at Southampton with defeat. Harley Bennett hit the woodwork for London City but when Ella Pusey’‘s shot was turned away, Katie Wilkinson buried the rebound for the Saints.
Charlton Athletic defeated Durham with a goal in either half. Melissa Johnson converted a 15th-minute penalty for the Addicks, given for a foul on Lauren Bruton. Johnson set up Angela Addison to make it 2-0 with little over 20 minutes to go.
Birmingham City saw off a Crystal Palace fightback for a 4-2 victory that keeps their title chace alive. They went three up at in 15 minutes but conceded twice by half time. Jade Pennock, Claudia Walker and Lucy Quinn put City in control, Coral-Jade Haines and Molly Sharpe getting the hosts back in the game. But midway through the second half, Walker completed her double for City.
Lewes beat Blackburn Rovers by the only goal of the game, midway through the second half. The Rooks struck with a rocket by Paula Howells from the edge of the box.
Sheffield United won at Coventry United, where Sophie Haywood netted her first two goals for the Blades during the first half. Courtney Sweetman-Kirk set up Mia Enderby to make it 3-0, getting on the scoresheet herself with a header from a Maddy Cusack free-kick.
Midweek Matches –Â Wednesday 19 April
Barclays Women’s Super League
Brighton & Hove Albion v Everton (Crawley Town FC, 7pm) –Â live on The FA Player
Manchester United v Arsenal (Leigh Sports Village, 7.15pm) –Â live on BBC Three/BBC iPlayer/BBC Sport Website
Barclays Women’s Championship
Birmingham City v Durham (St Andrew’s Stadium, 7pm) – live on The FA Player