Sunderland Ladies ended their recent dismal run of results with a fine 3 – 0 victory in the driving rain at Blackburn on Sunday.
The conditions were atrocious as the game kicked off and the visitors settled quickly as Sarah Danby forced keeper Danielle Hill into an early save. Then a Natalie Gutteridge effort was just off target before Danby again went through following great play involving Jordan Nobbs, Kelly McDougall and Demi Stokes, but her shot was beaten away.
Against the run of play Blackburn almost grabbed the lead following a short back pass in the 23rd minute but Rachael Laws saved smartly. Sunderland made the home side pay for their miss as they took the lead after 26 minutes. Following a defensive mix up Nobbs collected the ball and from 25 yards lobbed the ball over the stranded Hill. The Wearsiders continued to dominate but could not add to their tally as Gutteridge, McDougall and Lucy Staniforth went close.
HT... Blackburn Rovers Ladies 0 vs 1 Sunderland Ladies
Sunderland pushed forward immediately from the restart
and extended their lead in the 46th minute when a Staniforth free kick was headed home by McDougall. The midfielder went close again
moments later but her shot went narrowly wide. A powerful run down the right by Lucy Bronze saw her cross evade Gutteridge and fall
to McDougall who put the ball into the net, but she was flagged off side. Danby came close on two occasions before Blackburn woke
up to put the visitors under pressure with a couple of efforts which hardly troubled Laws. Sunderland wrapped the game up with a third
goal 3 minutes from time as Stokes ran onto a through ball to go around a defender and strike a low shot into the far corner. It was
a comfortable victory which should have produced more goals as the Wearsiders rediscovered their early season form.
FT... Blackburn
Rovers Ladies 0 vs 3 Sunderland Ladies
Sunderland...Laws, Bronze, Bannon, Wilson, Greenwell. Staniforth, Nobbs, McDougall,
Stokes, Danby(Atkinson), Gutteridge(Ramshaw).
Manager Mick Mulhern was beaming at the end of the game.... ”The long winter break had a negative effect on us but we were back with a bang today. It was a marvellous display from back to front. This was more like the performances which took us to the top of the league last October.”