Sunday 2nd March 2008

Doncaster Rovers Belles 4 Charlton Athletic 0

Doncaster Rovers Belles recorded back to back league wins for the first time this season to climb, temporarily at least, to fifth in the FA Tesco Women's Premier League National Division.

Sunday's 4-0 home success over bottom club Charlton Athletic followed on from a 3-2 midweek victory over Liverpool to give Belles 25 points from 19 games. However, the table is distinctly lopsided in terms of games played by the 12 clubs and that is no better exemplified than the team who are also on 25 points. That is Everton in fourth place, who have played 10 games and still have 12 left, while Belles have just three!

Belles had drawn 1-1 at Charlton last month, a somewhat anti-climatic result following a 4-3 win at Chelsea a week earlier, and they stormed into a 3-0 lead inside 15 minutes against a side who have yet to win a game this season.

Emily Heckler, who misses next Sunday's trip to Birmingham because of England Under-19 duty, opened after 6 minutes after an assistant referee signalled the ball had crossed the line, something which some of the visitors were less than satisfied about.

What was not in doubt was the clinical finishing which saw first Carla Cantrell who cut in from the right on 10 minutes to fire past Charlton keeper Becky Musial and then Vicky Exley who collected a pass from Presh Hamilton, strode forward around ten yards before unleashing a powerful strike into the roof of the net.

Despite having much more of the play in a half when they had the backing of a strong wind which certainly made on aware of the wind chill factor, the interval arrived without any further score.

Belles added just the one goal after the interval, Cantrell on the mark with an angled low strike from the right of the area midway through proceedings for her second of the game and 8th in the league this season.

If Belles can win at both Birmingham and Cardiff, their other remaining fixture is a somewhat more difficult proposition at home to Arsenal, then they would be in with a realistic shout of finishing in the top half of the table.

Belles: Caroline Collie, Natasha Hughes, Amy Turner, Vikki Stevens, Emma Thomson, Claire Utley, Emily Heckler, Vicky Exley, Carla Cantrell, Liz Hansen, Presh Hamilton
Substitutes Used: Vanessa Leat for Thomson, Emma Johnson for Heckler, Nat Shaw for Hansen
Substitutes Not Used: Veronica Cantoro, Bridie Hannon