After the excitement of the Vase game at Alnwick Town, it was back down the A1 for the second part of today's double.
Sunderland Ladies play at the Hetton Centre, Hetton-le-Hole, which is the former home of Eppleton Colliery Welfare. Eppleton Colliery were formed in 1929 and were members of the Northern Alliance when they unfortunately folded in 2005.
The ground was redeveloped when the club reached the Northern League in the early 1990's and received a further influx of cash when Sunderland Council relocated the villages community services to the Hetton Centre.
This building, which houses the community organisation ‘The Hetton Town Trust’ which rose from the former Eppleton Colliery Welfare, overlooks the ground. The centre includes the Bob Paisley Bar, named after the former Liverpool manager who was born in Hetton-le-Hole and remains a legendary figure around these parts.
Tonight's game was being billed as the title shoot out between Sunderland Ladies and Doncaster Belles for the right to replace Everton Ladies (relegated after 20 years in the top division) in the Women's top flight. The kick off was put back to 7.30pm to allow Black Cat supporters who had been at the Sunderland v Stoke City game plenty of time if they also wanted to come along to this match. The club were rewarded with a 1,000+ crowd and it made for a fantastic atmosphere.
At the start of play Sunderland had 41 points with three to play and Doncaster had 33 points with four to play. A Sunderland win and the title is theirs. A Doncaster win and the fight continues, but the reality is that it is Sunderland's to lose whatever the result as Doncaster still need to win their all remaining games and hope Sunderland slip up somewhere.
Sunderland took the lead after 16 minutes when their top scorer Beth Mead headed home. The homesters had the best of the opening 45 minutes and had chances to extend their lead.
Whatever Belles manager Gordon Staniforth said at the interval certainly did the trick. Millie Bright hit the crossbar from a free kick before Jess Sigsworth (60) headed home a cross from Victoria Williams to level things up.
Sunderland did have a glorious chance to regain the lead but Abbey Joice fired wide with only Belles goalkeeper Nicola Hobbs to beat.
It was Williams who proved to be the match winner, with 7 minutes remaining, when she hit a superb curling effort into the top corner of Rachel Laws' net.
Some of the tackles were crunching as Doncaster battled to protect their lead and despite late pressure they held on to keep their title chances alive.
The Doncaster Belles had Sue Smith in their starting line up, someone who will be well known to lot of people through her punditry work on the BBC and Sky Sports, and I have to say she was superb. Everything seemed to go through her and she always kept the team going through her touch and movement. The only blot on her copybook was a booking for a dive.
Overall a very enjoyable evening and a really good game of football.
Highlights can be viewed by clicking here
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