Sunday 21st August
FA PREMIER LEAGUE
NORTHERN DIVISION
Bradford City 0-2 Derby County
Fylde 4-0 Leicester City WFC (Att: 310)
Middlesbrough 6-0 West Bromwich Albion (Att: 101)
Newcastle United 0-1 Nottingham Forest
Stoke City 0-2 Blackburn Rovers (Att: 204)
SOUTHERN DIVISION
C&K Basildon 2-0 Portsmouth
Charlton Athletic 4-0 Swindon Town (Att: 77)
Crystal Palace 2-2 Coventry United (Att: 130)
Lewes 7-2 West Ham United (Att: 125)
MIDLANDS DIVISION 1
Loughborough Foxes 5-1 Sporting Khalsa
Loughborough Students P-P Solihull
Radcliffe Olympic 1-0 Steel City Wanderers
Rotherham United 5-1 Birmingham & West Midlands
The New Saints 5-2 Long Eaton United
NORTHERN DIVISION 1
Brighouse Town 0-3 Morecambe
Chester-Le-Street Town 4-1 Blackpool Wren Rovers
Crewe Alexandra 0-4 Chorley
Liverpool Marshalls Feds 1-3 Guiseley AFC Vixens
Mossley Hill P-P Hull City (Mossley unable to field a team)
Tranmere Rovers 3-5 Leeds
SOUTH EAST DIVISION 1
AFC Wimbledon 4-3 Ipswich Town
Cambridge United 1-2 Actonians
Denham United 0-3 MK Dons
Lowestoft Town 1-5 Norwich City
Luton Town 1-1 Gillingham
Stevenage 1-2 Enfield Town
SOUTH WEST DIVISION 1
Brislington 2-2 Southampton Saints
Chichester City 4-0 Cheltenham Town
Keynsham Town 1-5 Larkhall Athletic
St.Nicholas P-P Exeter City
Shanklin 1-6 Plymouth Argyle
Newly-promoted Middlesbrough sent reigning Northern champions West Brom to a 6-0 defeat, with doubles fromn Sammy Leigh and Millie Bell, singles by Emily Scarr and Bianca Owens. Fylde ran out 4-0 winners over Leicester City Women, who had won all their games last season in the division below. Natasha Flint got a couple, Lagan Makin and Charlotte Farrell one each. Blackburn began with a good 2-0 win at Stoke’s new home, where Lynda Shepherd converted a penalty and Saffron Jordon struck from 30 yards shortly afterwards. Derby matched that scoreline in their visit to Bradford, Sam Griffiths and Nicole Dale their scorers. Nottingham Forest got the only goal of the game at Newcastle, Georgia Gladwin on target in the first half.
Lewes are the early Southern leaders following an incredible 7-2 result over West Ham, having trailed 2-0 to goals by Katie Bottom and Whitney Locke. Then Danni Lane, Rachel Palmer and Kim Stenning got a brace each, Kelly Newton the other. C&K Basildon got off to a fine start be defeating Portsmouth 2-0 with goals by Lily Mellors and Zoe Rushen. Crystal Palace’s first game at this level saw them draw with Coventry. Gemma Bryan twice scored for the hosts but Steph Smith levelled each time, while Eagles keeper Chanell Yardley saved a Maz Gauntlett penalty. Swindon’s introduction ended differently though with a 4-0 loss at Charlton, where Katie Flack and Gemma Shepherd scored in the first 17 minutes, with Kit Graham and Charley Clifford netting after the interval.
Pictured – TNS tackle Long Eaton. (Photo: clivejonespr.com)
The clash of the Midlands newcomers saw TNS come on top 5-2 versus Long Eaton. High fives too for Loughborough Foxes and Rotherham, with 5-1 home victories. Just the one goal though, as Radcliffe edged Steel City.
Brighouse and Crewe lost at home on their league debuts. as Morecambe and Chorley respectively took the points back to Lancashire. Following their relegation to Northern Division 1, Guiseley won 3-1 at Liverpool Feds, Chester-le-Street sent Blackpool back beaten 4-1 and Leeds won 5-3 in a goalfest at Tranmere.
AFC Wimbledon’s introduction to South East Division 1 brought success in a seven-goal thriller with Ipswich. Stevenage though slipped to a 2-1 home reverse against Enfield. Norwich lead the table after a 5-1 win at Lowestoft, Luton and Gillingham shared the points, MK Dons were 3-0 victors at Denham and Actonians made a fine start with a 2-1 win at Cambridge.
Larkhall were off to a flying start with a 5-1 outcome at Keynsham in the South West. Chichester also had a four-goal winning margin over Cheltenham. Relegated Plymouth top the table with their 6-1 success at Shanklin. Brislington’s first game at this level was a creditable 2-2 tie with Southampton Saints.
Pictured top – Rachel Palmer is mobbed by her Lewes team-mates after scoring in the amazing fightback against West Ham.
