Sunderland Women claimed a vital 5-3 victory over Durham Women in a thrilling River Wear derby in front of a record league attendance at the Eppleton Welfare Colliery Ground.
In a game that rained goals Emily Scarr, a Mary McAteer brace, Jenna Dear and Katy Watson were all on the scoresheet for the hosts. Durham replied through a Mollie Lambert double and a Beth Hepple free kick.
Mel Reay made two changes ahead of the match with Louise Griffiths and Liz Ejupi returning to the Lasses starting XI in replace of Grace Ede and Molly Rouse.
Sunderland started on the front foot in the early stages of the game, Emily Scarr twice forcing Naoisha McAloon into comfortable stops as the Lasses searched for an opener.
McAteer thought she had broken the deadlock inside 10 minutes but her goalbound half-volley from the edge of the box was cleared off the line by the head of Sarah Wilson.
It took almost half an hour for Durham to test the hosts, Grace Ayre’s teasing cross from the left was flicked towards goal by Mollie Lambert but Claudia Moan remained alert to remove the danger.
Despite a nervy start, the Lasses took the lead on 31 minutes when an unmarked Scarr controlled a loose ball and empathically fired beyond McAloon from close range.
A well-executed run by McAteer provided her space to meet Jenna Dear’s whipped cross just three minutes later to add a second and put Sunderland into a commanding position.
Scarr should have given Sunderland a three-goal cushion heading into the interval, but she somehow guided her header from 10 yards out over McAloon’s crossbar.
Durham pulled a goal back with five minutes of the first half remaining through Lambert from two yards out after Sunderland failed to clear their lines on a couple of occasions.
Ejupi came close in the opening exchanges of the second 45 after being picked out by McAteer centre of the goal, but McAloon stood firm to deny the striker.
Durham levelled on 57 minutes through Lambert, the striker latched onto Lily Crosthwaite's defence-splitting pass to coolly slot past Moan.
The visitors were defending for their lives minutes later, firstly Jessica Brown's driven attempt was hacked clear but Ejupi and Amy Goddard’s efforts on the rebound were nervously hoofed away from the danger zone.
An outrageous outside-of-the-boot assist from Griffiths found McAteer 12 yards out and she made no mistake, firstly confidently controlling the ball before cutting inside and expertly finding McAloon's far corner with a fierce strike.
The Lasses lead lasted just four minutes, Hepple’s floated free-kick on 72 minutes evaded everyone from 25 yards out and brought Durham level for a second time.
In an end-to-end clash, Sunderland regained their lead on 75 minutes when Dear collected substitute Watson’s pass before composing herself and curling her effort beyond McAloon from the edge of the box.
Super-sub-Watson gave Reay’s side some breathing space as the tie entered its closing stage, the midfielder side footing her shot past an advancing McAloon on 78 minutes following a neat through ball by Katie Kitching.
The Lasses are back in action next Sunday when they travel to Vicarage Road to face Watford in the Barclays Women’s Championship.
SAFC XI: Moan, Brown, Goddard, Westrup ©, Griffiths, Fenton, Dear, Kitching, McAteer (Jones 89’), Scarr, Ejupi (Watson 72)
Subs not used: Borthwick, McCatty, Beer, Cassap, Corbyn, McInnes, Ede.
Attendance: 1,477 - Thank you for your incredible support.