FAWNL Week 3 Round Up

It’s been a busy week in tiers 3 and 4 of the women’s football pyramid with the determining round of the FAWNL Cup held across Wednesday and Thursday evenings before getting back to league action yesterday.

Across the week there has been some standout performances from the group of former NUW players still playing in these leagues, notably Nottingham Forest’s Bridget Galloway and Middlesbrough’s Ellen Turnbull.

Looking at the midweek FAWNL Cup games first of all, “El Lassico” , credit to Jamie Gallon, certainly lived up to the pre match expectations.

A strong Boro side featured former Newcastle United Women players Ellen Packham, Ellen Turnbull, Lauren Robson, Millie Bell, Sarah Burn (Captain) and Grace Boyes.

Jane Harland, Keira Skelton, Beth Guy and Sharna Wilkinson started on the Boro bench.

Anna Soulsby as per normal was in the starting 11 for Cestria. 

Boro were almost ahead inside 3 minutes, Turnbull setting up Jess Mett only for the goal to be ruled out for offside. On the 12th minute, Turnbull did put Boro ahead with a curling shot from the edge of the box into the top left corner. 

Only 4 minutes after the restart, Millie Bell made it 2-0 with a header from a corner. On the half hour mark, another Boro corner, another Bell header, 3-0 to the hosts.

15 mins into the second half, this time Ellen Turnbull doubles her tally for the day, picking her spot after being played through to a one on one with the Cestria keeper. 4-0 Boro.

A Cestria consolation goal came in the 69gb minute. Possibly the greatest tweet I’ve seen so far this season - “a superb ball in from Anna Soulsby and the keeper punches clear before Erin Brown unleashes pure hell fire and almost breaks the net with her effort”.

Galloway’s Nottingham Forest ran out comfortable 6-0 winners against local rivals Notts County.

Bridget was making her first start since signing for Forest and opened the scoring after 50 mins. Her second came in the 77th minute putting Forest 5-0 up. Bridget would’ve marked her first start with a hat trick but a 57th minute header was ruled out for offside.

Daisy Burt’s Derby County saw off Loughborough Lightning 2-1 after extra time to progress to the first round proper whilst Erin Nelson’s Stoke City beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-3 to progress. 

Returning to league action now, another Anna Soulsby goal so her maintain her record of scoring in every league game, the only player in division one north to do so, extending her lead in the golden boot competition and taking Cestria top of the table on goal difference following a comprehensive 4-1 defeat of previous league leaders Chorley. 

Middlesbrough move up to 3rd in the table with a 3-1 victory against AFC Fylde.

In what is becoming a settled starting 11 for Boro, Boyes, Packham, Burn, Bell, Robson & Turnbull all started with Keira Skelton and Sharna Wilkinson being brought on as subs.

Packham and Robson connected to allow Robson to round the Fylde keeper and open the scoring after just 3 minutes. Robson then turned provider, her corner finding Turnbull in the box to double their lead. In form Turnbull made it 3-1 early in the second half, that’s five goals in the last 3 matches in all competitions for the Boro forward.

Golden boot competition as of week 3:

Anna Soulsby (Durham Cestria) 5

Ellen Turnbull (Middlesbrough) 3

Hutchinson (Cestria), Dunlop, Gillin & Houghton (Cheadle), Newhouse & Wood (Chorley), Saxton & J. Tugby-Andrew (Doncaster), McMahon (Huddersfield), Smith (Leeds) and another former NUW player Bianca Owens (Norton) all on 2

In the Northern Premier Division this weekend, only the 5 mins or so for Bridget, coming on as an 85th minute substitute in Forest’s 1-6 away win at Wolves. 

A 1-5 away win for Rugby Borough and a 1-5 away win for Burnley sees the top 3 separated by 1 goal.

45 mins for Daisy Burt in a 2-1 win for Derby and Erin Nelson named as a substitute in Stoke City’s 1-5 loss to Burnley.