Buckland Athletic, Portishead, Redditch United and Whyteleafe all went top of their respective Regional League divisions following results on Sunday 17th December.
EASTERN –
LEAGUE CUP 3RD ROUND – Bedford pulled off a 3-1 win at league leaders Cambridge City, whose effort from Isabella Simmons proved insufficient. Brentwood Town came through a tricky tie at Harlow Town to reach the quarter-finals, winning 2-0 with goals by Maria Barker and Georgia Holdaway.
EAST MIDLANDS
PREMIER – Loughborough Students would have jumped up three places by beating Eastwood but they had to settle for a 4-4 draw with their mid-table visitors, which meant they slipped to the bottom of the table. Rosanna Frith-Salem got two goals as the students came from 2-1 down to lead 4-2 but Eastwood then fought back and Courtney Walters levelled in the dying minutes. Rise Park did however leap up four places with a single-goal success over Arnold Town. Natasha Murray came off the bench with 20 minutes to go and within 5 minutes grabbed the winner.
1 NORTH – Hykeham Town went three points clear of Woodlands at the top when thrashing Draycott Victoria 8-0. Lauren Carter and Laura Dawson scored to make it 2-0 at half-time, with the former going on to get a hat-trick and the latter bagging a brace.
1 SOUTH – Table-toppers Oadby & Wigston Dynamo are now four points ahead of Northampton Town, following a 3-0 success at third-placed Corby Town. Hannah Randon, Samantha Hargrave and Nikki Lidgett were all on the scoresheet for Oadby. Desford defeated fifth in the table AFC Leicester 1-0 to rise to seventh.
LONDON & SOUTH EAST
PREMIER – London Kent Football United and Parkwood Rangers shared six goals in the meeting of third and fifth, with substitute Jade Whiteman scoring twice for the visitors.
GREATER LONDON PREMIER – Whyteleafe took top spot for Christmas from QPR Development with a 3-0 defeat of Hampstead, adding two goals in the last 9 minutes through Amanda Hollidge and Elizabeth Berkeley after an early opener by Kate Kingshott.
SOUTH EAST COUNTIES PREMIER – Kent Football United went clear of Worthing at the top after hitting Crawley Wasps Reserves for six, two goals each coming from Elizabeth Waldie and sub Gabriella Hawkins. Meridian are up to sixth having thumped Ashford 9-1, Amy Russ featuring with a five-goal haul.
NORTH WEST
PREMIER – Stockport County still hold a four-point advantage over Tranmere at the top of the league, following their 3-1 defeat of Sir Tom Finney – Rovers came from behind to edge Merseyrail Bootle 3-2. SSE WFA Cup giant-killers Burnley ran out 5-0 winners at Blackpool.
1 SOUTH – Keeley Goodwin got a couple for Curzon Ashton, whose 3-0 win over Warrington lifted them above the Wolverines into second spot. Crewe Alexandra Dev’s Chloe Brown swiftly equalised for a 1-1 draw, after Northwich Vixens took a second-half lead.
SOUTHERN
PREMIER – New Milton Town leapfrogged Winchester City Flyers into fourth by beating them 2-1 with a double from Tiffany Skinner, despite a red card for home sub Katie Norman. Newbury’s 3-1 result over Shanklin included a double by Ayala Truelove which helped raise her team back into second place.
JUBILEE CUP – Woodley United opened their campaign with a 5-0 Group B victory over Wargrave, May Hamblin netting twice in the first 15 minutes.
SOUTH WEST
PREMIER – Buckland Athletic edged Keynsham Town DS in a nine-goal thriller to replace Torquay United at the top on goal-difference. Yasmin Pratt got a couple for Keynsham who led 2-1 at the interval but Hayley Chamberlain and Amber Coates struck twice each to give the Devon side a 5-4 win. Exeter City climbed into the top half with a dozen goals against AEK Boco, Jana Richards top-scoring with four, Katie Finch getting three. Ilminster Town moved up two to fourth when winning by the best of five goals at Forest Green Rovers.
EASTERN – Portishead went from third to first with a 10-0 rout of hosts Cheltenham Town DS, new signing Taylor Gainey with half the total and Hannah Thornton adding a treble. Cheltenham Civil Service are into seventh spot thanks to a walkover at St Nicholas Reserves.
WEST MIDLANDS
1 SOUTH – Redditch United were gifted the leadership for Christmas by scheduled visitors Stourbridge, who were unable to fulfil the fixture. Solihull Sporting replaced Rugby Town DS in eighth position, with a 3-2 away win over them.
