PNE Women suffered a defeat against a tough opponent in the form of Newcastle United Women at Northumbria University on Sunday.
PNE started the better of the two teams and were 2-0 in front by the midway point in the first half after goals from Rebecca Foster and Paige Forster.
Foster got the first after Melissa Ball headed the ball back across the face of goal for her to power in before Forster broke the offside trap and brought down Alison Taberner’s outside of the foot pass to score the second.
Danielle Brown made a number of good saves in the first half to keep the score at 2-0, first saving from Jess Havelock and then denying Lizzy Frazer twice from long range.
However, it was her pass that was intercepted for Newcastle’s first goal just before half-time, Beth Gardner picking up the ball before slotting through Brown’s legs to reduce the deficit.
Following the restart, Newcastle scored again and it was Jess Foster with the goal.
Jess Havelock got to the byline and floated a ball into the area which was met on the volley by Foster.
Ten minutes later and Newcastle took the lead on the counter attack after Sophie Jones had hit the side netting with her chance moments earlier.
The ball was played through from midfield and Jess Foster fought off attention from the Preston defence and finished past Brown to make it 3-2.
Jones was becoming an increasing problem for the Newcastle defence and as she broke the offside trap in the 75th minute, Laura Wareham charged out and blocked her shot for a corner.
Newcastle sealed the three points with 10 minutes to go as Beth Gardner found herself free in the area before calmly placing the ball in the far corner to make it 4-2.
As the clock ticked into the 90th minute, Newcastle were awarded a controversial penalty when Brown was adjudged to have pulled down Gardner in the area.
She dusted herself down to step up and take the penalty but Brown saved it down low to her right and Gardner spooned the rebound high over the bar.
Despite the penalty miss, Newcastle saw out the game and the score stayed at 4-2 leaving Preston with a long journey home and no points to show for their efforts.
PNE: Brown, Stansfield, Charlesworth, Lupton, Taberner, Foster, Walker, Cadwallader (Robinson 65), Ball (Killipp 76), Forster, Jones