PNE Women moved up to second in the FA Women’s Northern Premier League with a 1-0 win over Blackburn Ladies at UCLan Sports Arena on Wednesday.
Alice Forshaw’s fantastic first half strike separated the two sides in a game where chances were few and far between.
After missing Sunday’s game against Nottingham Forest Ladies, Jenna Carroll was brought back into the starting eleven with Emily Lupton moving back to the bench.
Rovers created the first chance on five minutes when they hit the bar from a deep free kick, but it wasn’t long until PNE opened the scoring.
The ball fell kindly to Forshaw on the edge of the Rovers area and with one swift movement of her weaker right foot, she fired the ball into the back of the net via the post.
The first half barely had any noteworthy chances, with the majority of the game being played in the middle of the park and the closest Rovers came to testing Danielle Brown was in the 75th minute, but Evie Manning fired wide when she was unmarked in the six yard area.
Two minutes later manager Mark Read made a double sub with Lupton and Emily Hutton coming on for Gemma Watson and Forshaw and it was the latter who had the final North End chance.
The Rovers goalkeeper spilled Melissa Ball’s cross into the path of Hutton, but her lofted effort dipped just over the bar and out for a goal kick.
The only negative from the night was that winger Ball will face a spell on the sidelines after suffering medial ligament damage in her knee after a rash tackle late on in the game.
The result sees PNE move up to second in the league and sets them up nicely for the final game of the season against Bradford City Women.
A date for the game is yet to be decided, but you can keep up to date with all PNE Women news on Twitter @PNEWomenFC.
PNE: Brown, Stanfield, Taberner, Carroll, Forshaw (Lupton 77), Walker (c), Foster (Rawcliffe 45), Anderton, Watson (Hutton 77), Ball, Savage