FAWNL Play-Off Final: Watford 1-0 Nottingham Forest

Poppy Wilson’s 17th-minute header, nodded in from a Gemma Davison cross, returned Watford to the Barclays Women’s Championship a year after relegation on the last kick of 2021-22, and settled the last play-off decider the FA Women’s National League will ever stage. Both northern and southern champions had come through close title races and 3,007 at Stadium MK saw Forest have the better of the first half, Watford goalkeeper Jacqueline Goldsmid making two important saves. Ellie Head had the ball in the net after the hour but was ruled offside. Coach Damon Lathrope called it unreal, the culmination of ten months of players working all day and training in the evening, and said the group had not forgotten the scars of the previous season.