Addicks slump to 2-0 defeat at Durham in Championship

By Football Reporter

Durham 2-0 Charlton Athletic Women

A goal in each half by Kathryn Hill and Beth Hepple consigned Charlton Athletic to a 2-0 defeat away to Durham In the FA Women’s Championship.

Hill found the net after just four minutes to give the hosts the perfect start in their bid to bounce back from last week’s defeat to Sheffield United.

And that lead was doubled after the break when Hepple scored from the penalty spot, adding to the goal she scored in the season opener against Watford a fortnight previous.

Ella Rutherford cannoned a free-kick off the home bar in the closing stages but Charlton couldn’t find their way through, losing for the first time this Championship season.

A mis-kicked clearance gave Durham an early opening and they certainly made the most of the opportunity, Hill firing home from Hepple’s corner with less than five minutes on the clock at Maiden Castle.

It took until 14 minutes for Charlton to get their first half chance with Beth Roe flashing narrowly wide from distance.

But the hosts remained the stronger side with Bridget Galloway proving a handful, just inches away from converting on more than one occasion.

The visitors were always in contention with just one goal in the game but that all changed ten minutes into the second half.

A handball in the Charlton box gave Hepple the chance to convert from 12 yards, sending Eartha Cumings the wrong way with her penalty for 2-0.

That all-but sealed the contest with the London side unable to fashion many clear-cut opportunities.

But they came close to changing that in second-half stoppage time, with Rutherford desperately unlucky not to find the back of the net when her free-kick rattled the angle of post and bar.

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Durham: Megan Borthwick, Kathryn Hill, Sarah Wilson, Becky Salicki, Dee Bradley, Abby Holmes, Lauren Briggs, Mollie Lambert, Sarah Robson, Beth Hepple, Bridget Galloway

Substitutes: Liz Ejupi for Galloway 63, Ellie Christon for Bradley 63, Emily Roberts for Holmes 71, Danielle Brown for Lambert 82, Ali Johnson for Briggs 82

Substitutes not used: Brooke Mackain, Lily Crosthwaite

Goals: Hill 5, Hepple 54 (pen)

Bookings: Robson 18, Lambert 41, Hill 45

Charlton: Eartha Cumings, Rachel Newborough, Hollie Olding, Anna Filbey, Elisha Sulola, Megan Wynne, Elise Hughes, Kiera Skeels, Ella Rutherford, Beth Roe, Hannah Godfrey

Substitutes: Jess King for Sulola 54, Becky Jane for Newborough 69, Lois Roche for Skeeless 69, Vyan Sampson for Olding 81, Lois Heuchan for Wynne 81

Substitutes not used: Sophie Hillyerd, Mia Ross

Bookings: Godfrey 54, Wynne 78

Attendance: 377