Sunderland Women moved up to second in the league with a victory over Watford Women at Eppleton.
Natasha Fenton scored her first goal for Sunderland after opening the scoring two minutes into the first half.
The Lasses doubled their lead through Mary McAteer 23 minutes in, with Watford’s Carly Johns grabbing a goal back in the 90th minute as the game finished 2-1.
Mel Reay’s side got off to a flying start when Katie Kitching’s free-kick was swung to the back post, and Fenton rose to head a looping shot over the goalkeeper.
In acrobatic fashion, Jenna Dear almost scored the second of the game 15 minutes in, connecting with McAteer’s cross with an overhead kick, but it went just over the bar.
McAteer scored her second goal in Red & White on the 23-minute mark, with Louise Griffiths’ cross dropping to the winger in the box, and the number nine was on hand to poke it into the bottom corner.
Claudia Moan was called into action late into the half, getting down low and making a strong stop to deny the Golden Girls a goal back, with the resulting shot by Carly Johns firing over the bar.
Chances were few and far between early in the second half, but Bianca Baptiste almost gave the away side a lifeline half-way through, running through on goal and putting her shot wide of the post.
The Lasses threatened on a couple of occasions down the right with some effective combination play – Ellen Jones and Jessica Brown both had shots on goal as a result but neither could test the Watford ‘keeper.
The visitors scored on the 90-minute mark with Ellie Head playing in Johns to slot into the bottom corner, but Sunderland held strong at the end to secure the three points.
The Black Cats are back on the road next week as they take on Birmingham City Women at St. Andrew’s.
SAFC Women: Moan, Brown (Beer 87’), Goddard, Westrup ©, Griffiths, Fenton, Kitching, Dear, McAteer (Scarr 63’), Ede (Jones 63’), Ejupi (Watson 45’).
Subs not used: Borthwick, McCatty, McInnes, Rouse.