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21.04.2024

Lewes relegated from Barclays Women’s Championship

Lewes were relegated from the Barclays Women’s Championship with defeat to table-toppers Crystal Palace.

Charlton Athletic and Reading both jumped up the table with narrow 1-0 victories, while Birmingham City and Southampton each collected three points at home.

Lewes leave the Championship

Lewes were relegated from the Barclays Women’s Championship with a 2-0 defeat at home to league-leaders Crystal Palace.

In their final home game of the season, the Rooks went behind to a stunning strike from Shanade Hopcroft at the Dripping Pan.

Molly-Mae Sharpe then doubled the visitors’ lead as Palace all-but clinched the Championship title, as they sit three points clear of Charlton Athletic with one game to play and a far superior goal difference.

The Eagles took the lead as Hopcroft fired a thunderbolt into the net from outside the box with 25 minutes gone.

The Rooks keeper was then called into action to stop Palace doubling their lead just before half-time as she tipped an effort from Sharpe over the bar.

The Palace forward continued where she left off after the break with a strike in the 50th minute, sliding the ball into the bottom corner to double her side’s advantage and bring an end to the club’s six-year stay in the Barclays Women’s Championship.

Hornby’s strike seals Watford’s fate

Meg Hornby’s first-half strike saw Blackburn Rovers claim a 1-0 win over the already-relegated Watford.

Hornby struck two minutes into stoppage time against the run of play, with the majority of chances coming in the second half.

The loss confirms Watford’s position at the bottom of the table, with just one game left in their season.

Hornby reacted to a Jade Richards volley over the Watford defence, striking home and lofting her shot over Safia Middleton-Patel and into the back of the net in the 45+2 minute.

Michelle Agyemang had a golden opportunity to level the scores five minutes into the second half but was unable to get past Alex Brooks.

Hornby threatened once more in the second half with Rovers almost adding to the score line but it ultimately ended 1-0 to the hosts.

Stapleton sees Reading leapfrog into ninth

Jessie Stapleton’s second-half score fired Reading to a 1-0 victory over 10-player Durham in their final Barclays Women’s Championship home game of the season.

Durham’s Dee Bradley was sent off just after the half-hour mark for a late tackle on Tia Primmer, bringing the visitors down to 10 players.

Despite being on the back foot, a break from Mollie Lambert was Durham’s best chance of the half, finding Saoirse Noonan, who was ultimately blocked in the box by Brooke Hendrix.

It was Reading who broke the deadlock in the 66th minute with Stapleton tapping into the net off the back of a Hendrix’s deflection from a corner.

Both sides saw a couple of chances in the closing stages, with the visitors chasing the equaliser, but it was the Royals who took the spoils with a hard-fought victory and overtook Durham in the Women’s Championship standings.

Charlton take the spoils over Sunderland

Kayleigh Barton’s strike saw Charlton Athletic secure a 1-0 win over Sunderland.

The Addicks took the lead on the hour mark courtesy of Barton who recovered Melissa Johnson’s initially saved effort and bundled it home to catapult her team into second.

The Lasses started the stronger, with Elizabeth Ejupi finding her way into the visitors’ box and a Brianna Westrup header soaring over the bar, as Rebecca McKenna tried her hand from the edge of the box for the Addicks.

A Johnson one-on-one with Claudia Moan proved to be a divisive moment in the opening moments but the shot-stopper made it easy work.

Barton struck on the hour with Johnson’s initial effort saved by Moan but Barton was on hand to slot into an empty net and take the lead, with the forward almost adding a second ten minutes later.

Sunderland were unable to salvage a point as the visitors took the win and ended the Lasses’ push for promotion.

Lily Agg hands the Blues three points

Sheffield United suffered a 1-0 defeat to Birmingham City in their final away game of the season.

Lily Agg gave Blues the lead in a first half of few chances, meeting a fine cross from Rebecca Holloway before slotting home.

In front of a record crowd of 3,101 at St. Andrews, Birmingham held off a second-half rally from Sheffield United to keep up their challenge for the top four.

The pressure finally told as the Blades went behind on the stroke of half-time as Agg slid the ball into the corner having met a beautiful ball from Holloway.

The second half followed a similar pattern with not much action to speak of before Libby Smith sparked the game back into life, forcing Stenson into another strong save before United finally came into the game.

The contest fizzled out with Blues doing enough to claim the three points and move three points behind Southampton with one game remaining.

Threesy does it for Southampton

Southampton stormed to a 3-1 victory over London City Lionesses.

Molly Pike, Emma Thompson and Rianna Dean all scored to put the Sirens within three points of second-placed Charlton in the table.

Southampton came out firing, with early chances from Atlanta Primus, Lucia Kendall and Thompson before an Ella Morris cross found Pike who swept it home for the opener.

Just 11 minutes later and Thompson was finally on the scoresheet, assisted by Kendall and firing home to double the score.

The Lionesses clawed one back after the break courtesy of Leanne Cowan, Danielle Carter fed the ball towards the back post for Cowan to thunder home.

But Dean made it three in the 83rd minute to give her side some breathing space and collect all three points at home.

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