Charlton Athletic Women went four points clear in Barclays WSL 2 with a victory in the top-of-the-table clash at Birmingham City.
Sheffield United 2-1 Durham
Birmingham City 0-1 Charlton Athletic
Ipswich Town 1-4 Newcastle United
Portsmouth 2-1 Crystal Palace
Southampton 2-3 Nottingham Forest
Sunderland 2-4 Bristol City
Katie Bradley scored for Charlton with an impressive strike from outside the box just seven minutes into the game.
Bristol City pulled level on points with Birmingham, following a 4-2 success at Sunderland.
Bristol City made a storming start by scoring three times in a ten-minute spell before the half-hour mark. Camila Sáez buried a free kick, then crossed for Gemma Lawley to head home, with Lexi Lloyd-Smith making it 3-0. The Black Cats bounced back before the break, with Katie Kitching and Mary Corbyn both scoring to get the hosts right back in it. But after 88 minutes, Olivia Johnson was fouled in the penalty area and Emily Syme scored a fourth for City.
Nottingham Forest moved above Southampton into fourth place after defeating the Saints 3-2 in an away match.
Nahikari García scored for Forest on the break four minutes from the end of the first half, but Saints levelled before half-time when Mary Bashford finished off a delivery from Tara Bourne. Jess Simpson completed the turnaround for Southampton, but Forest’s Charlie Wellings dramatically scored a quickfire double in the dying minutes.
Newcastle edged into the top half of the table above Sunderland on goals scored, with a 4-1 result at Ipswich.
Shania Hayles scored a tap-in for Newcastle late in the first period, after being set up by Jordan Nobbs. Hayles completed her brace five minutes after the resumption, but three minutes later Kyra Robertson replied for Ipswich. Oona Sevenius picked out Molly Pike to restore the visitors’ two-goal cushion. Emily Murphy scored a fourth goal for United with a header from Beth Lumsden’s late corner kick.
Goals just either side of half-time gave Sheffield United a 2-1 victory over Durham.
Mollie Rouse’s 43rd-minute opener was followed five minutes after the restart by Charlie Devlin, who scored from the penalty spot after a foul on Amy Andrews. Lucy Watson earned a spot-kick for Durham with 13 minutes remaining, which Beth Hepple converted but the Blades leapfrogged their visitors into eighth place.
Portsmouth climbed off the bottom of the table at the expense of Ipswich, thanks to a late winner against Crystal Palace.
Angelina Nixon pounced to give Pompey the lead, after Meg Hornby’s free kick was spilled by goalkeeper Shae Yañez and Hannah Coan set up the tap-in. Annabel Blanchard equalised for Palace just before the interval, her deflected shot leaving Jess Gray stranded in the home goal. Before the 10 minutes of stoppage time began, Jessie Gale regained the lead for Portsmouth after being set up by Ella Rutherford’s quickly taken free kick.