FAWNL Weekend 14

Northern Premier Division

With Wolves in FA Cup action this weekend (a 0-6 home loss to WSL opponent Manchester United) Nottingham Forest took full advantage with a 4-0 win over Liverpool Feds opening up a 3 point lead at the top of the table over 2nd placed Wolverhampton Wanderers and extending their goal difference advantage to 16 goals, +50 compared to +34. By comparison, 14 matches into NUW's tier 3 promotion season last season we were sitting at +42 goal difference and 34 points, a win and a draw behind Forest's current 38 point total. 

No Bridget Galloway in the Forest squad this weekend, I'm not sure if she's picked up an injury since their FAWNL Cup semi-final victory against Hashtag United on the 26th January, but Naomi Bedeau and recent loanee Sophie Haywood were both on the Forest bench. 

The breakthrough for the home side at the City Ground came after 35 minutes. A confident penalty from Charlie Wellings into the bottom left corner sending the Feds keeper the wrong way. Forest doubled their lead shortly before half time. A 42nd minute free kick from Mollie Green, a good 15 yards outside the box, was parried by the Feds' keeper back into the 6 yard box, Millie Chandarana reacting first to hit home despite a valiant effort from Cadi Doran in the Feds goal. That's two in two for both Wellings and Chandarana.

It didn't take the league leaders long to extend their lead further once the second half got underway. An outswinging corner from the right hand side was headed towards goal and cleared off the line, only to fall to Mel Johnson at the edge of the 6 yard who caught it on the volley and sent it straight back towards goal for her 10th league goal of the season. 

The 66th minute saw the introduction of Haywood and Bedeau as part of a triple substitution. 

A second Mel Johnson goal on 80 minutes was ruled out for offside. 5 minutes later, she did get her second of the afternoon, a lovely first touch to bring down a high ball into the box and take her past the Feds centre back, then a composed finish with her left foot past the oncoming keeper. 

Great to see Nom continue her return from injury and please to see Haywood getting game time during her loan. A huge match ahead this Sunday as Wolves come to Trentside. A win for the home side will open up a 6 point gap over their nearest rivals. 

The 4-0 win over Feds was Emily Batty's 4th consecutive clean sheet in their 4 matches since the 1-0 loss to NUW in the FA Cup. More than one home fan commented on the ability of Batty during their recent trip to Kingston Park. 

No Stoke City goal for Erin Nelson but she did play the full 90 minutes in a 1-6 win away to Stourbridge. That result sees Stoke City up to 4th, 7 points behind Forest. A 4 match winning streak for Stoke City now following their exit from the FA Cup, scoring 16 and only conceding the 1 to Stourbridge. I don't think Stoke will close the gap to Forest but I could certainly see a top 3 finish on the cards. 

No match this weekend for Daisy Burt and Derby County. 

Honourable mention to Rugby Borough, held WSL side Liverpool to a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup through 84 minutes. Taking the WSL side to extra time would have been a massive result for Rugby. It's matches like this where I think it's sad that FA Cup replays are more or less a thing of the past.

Division One North

After holding league leaders Cheadle Town Stingers to a 0-0 away draw a fortnight ago and a 2-1 home win against 3rd place Chorley last weekend, Middlesbrough brought themselves within a point of Cheadle this weekend, with a game in hand, following a 0-1 win away to Stockport County. 

Boro strengthened an already strong squad this past transfer window with the acquisition of Kacie Elson on a permanent deal and Georgia Gibson on loan till the end of the season, both from NUW as well as extending NUW loanee Becky Ferguson's loan to the end of the season. 

The Boro starting 11 featured nine players who have formerly played in the black & white stripes of NUW - Laura Wareham, Ellen Packham, Ellen Turnbull, Lauren Robson, Leanna Giles, Sharna Wilkinson, Millie Bell, Grace Boyes (C) and Kacie Elson. Nice to see Keira Skelton back on the Boro bench after picking up an injury back in October. 

Boro having the better of the opening 20 minutes, chances for Elson, Robson and Giles, but two important saves from Wareham to keep the scores level. 

A long range free kick from Sharna Wilkinson went narrowly over the bar just before the half hour mark. A second Wilkinson free kick, this time from the edge of the box, on 35 minutes is hit straight against the wall. 

A typical moment of Elson skill in the 40th minute, doing well to turn in the box and get a low cross delivered but nobody was able to get on the end of it and both teams went into half time scoreless.

Boro got the only goal of the game 10 minutes into the second half. Elson showing the Boro fans what she can bring to the team, getting a cross into the box after driving infield from the left wing and setting up Jess Mett to tap home. 

Almost a first goal to follow her first Boro assist for Elson but she saw her shot towards an open goal blocked on the 62nd minute. 

Some important late saves from Wareham to retain the lead despite having little to do for large parts of the match. 

Finally, a big 5-1 win for Durham Cestria against York City. Faye Dale, sister of Sunderland's Eleanor Dale, opened the scoring for Cestria after 24 minutes, her first goal since returning to the club last month following a move to from Cestria to Boro in January 2024. Her previous spell with Cestria saw her score 13 goals in 42 appearances. 

Former NUW forward Nicki Gears came on as a 58th minute sub for Cestria, Gears got her head to a well taken corner in the 80th minute to make the score 5-0. Second league goal of the campaign for Gears. 

A consolation 91st minute goal for the visitors, and goals for Erin Brown, Ashley Townsend and Daisy Clarke in between Dale's and Gears' goals. 

Cestria have now opened an 11 point gap to 11th place Doncaster Rovers Belle's and a 13 point gap to bottom club AFC Fylde. One more win I think will be sufficient to keep Cestria in tier 4 next season when they hopefully will have Anna Soulsby back. 

Entirely possible the "El Lassico" on 23rd March at Maiden Castle could have a big say in Boro's title chances. If it wasn't Tyne & Wear derby day at SJP I would've gone along to that. It could be a while before we get another one.