Town Women record eighth consecutive victory
- Huddersfield Town Women beat Middlesbrough Women
- Town Women make it eight straight victories in the FA Women’s National League
- Town Women will be top on Christmas
Huddersfield Town Women beat Middlesbrough Women 3-2 at the Stafflex Arena to record their eighth consecutive victory open up a six-point gap to second-place Fylde in the FA Women’s National League.
First half headers from Brittany Sanderson and Laura Elford – both from Sarah Danby assists – saw Town take control of their final game of 2020 before Sanderson added her second late on.
Shortly before Elford netting Town’s second, the ‘Boro ‘keeper had to be with suspected concussion and, with no reserve goalkeeper on the bench, an outfield player took her place, making the second 45 minutes a real chance for the Terriers’ to boost their goal difference.
Their opponents also hadn’t previously played after the second lockdown and had lost their star player to a European outfit, so everything seemed aligned for yet another Town win, but it wasn’t plain sailing when the visitors hit the left-hand post midway through the second half.
Katie Nutter drove down the left and nutmegged her defender before seeing a shot well saved, but the hosts were not to be deterred.
Sanderson – who scored Town’s third in the 4-2 win on Teesside earlier this season – was a constant threat and showed her quality again by blasting a free-kick into the top corner of the net to re-instate the two-goal cushion.
Assistant Manager Marcus Wilkinson was delighted with the performance.
“It was a hard-fought game and they caused us problems, but we came through it as a team again and that’s great to see.”
With Fylde and Derby’s matches both postponed, the Terriers knew that they had the opportunity to show the rest of the league what they are all about – and boy did they do that.
Going into the match on a seven-game winning streak, Town were riding on a momentum wave and all thought they’d sealed the victory when Mallin found Laura Elford in the six-yard box, but a sensational save denied a fourth.
The away side then went down the other end to pull a consolation back from close range, but the job was done and Wilkinson was full of praise for the team.
“To be six points clear is good obviously, but there’s still a long way to go.
“We’ve been brilliant so far, so we’ll keep on doing what we do and see where we are at the end of the season.”
So then, Town will spend Christmas at the top of the tree and all signs point to a very happy New Year, starting with the trip to Liverpool Feds in the Vitality Women’s FA Cup on Sunday 3 January 2020.
