Women's football: Belles lose lead while bar foils Sheffield FC

Rhiannon Roberts gave the Belles the lead. Picture: Malcolm Billingham

Pointless and bottom-of-the-table Belles impressed in the first half hour and deserved to be ahead through Rhiannon Roberts’ header from Emily Simpkins’ free-kick with 20 minutes gone.

But two superb strikes from Caroline Weir before half-time and Natasha Harding’s third 20 minutesfrom time completed the scoring.

Belles: Moorhouse; Roberts, Tierney, Little, Barker; Lipka (O’Donnell 80); Simpkins, Rayner (Murray 59); Omarsdottir; Bakowska-Mathews, Humphrey.

Sheffield FC Ladies were made to rue missed chances as they were held 1-1 at Millwall Lionesses in WSL2.

Emma Johnson gave them the lead after Jodie Michalska’s shot hit the bar. Sheffield hit the bar three more times in the first half through Michalska, Johnson and Emma Lipton and thought they had doubled the lead on the hour when Rhema Lord-Mears hit the bar and appeared to bounce over the line. But the referee ruled it hadn’t and Millwall equalised with Ashlee Hincks chip a minute later.

Sheffield: Draycott, Jackson, Lipman, Murphy, Gilliatt, Ward (Jones 80), Dale, McCue, Michalska, Lord-Mears (Hansomn 65), Johnson.

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