Preston North End Women returned to winning ways as they secured their second league win of the season on Sunday afternoon with a dominant performance against Wolves Women.
A double from Chelsea Flanagan plus goals from Jade Parker, Jenna Carroll, Yasmine Swarbrick and Alice Forshaw secured the three points in a 6-2 win.
PNE were dominant from the referee’s first whistle and created numerous opportunities in the opening twenty minutes.
Flanagan was denied twice by Wolves goalkeeper Natalie Hall before Paige Forster clipped the top of the bar from twenty five yards.
The waves of attack continued and paid off in the 28th minute, Flanagan darted past two defenders and squared to Parker who curled the ball into the corner from the edge of the area past the dive of Hall.
The lead was soon extended as Carroll headed in just three minutes later to make it 2-0.
North End captain Laura Walker floated a deep free kick into the box and Carroll rose above her marker to double the advantage.
Wolves rarely threatened in the first half and it was all PNE towards the interval with Hall once again denying Flanagan before Forster hit the ‘bar for a second time with an audacious lob from thirty yards out.
Similar to the first half, PNE came out firing on all cylinders and made it 3-0 within forty seconds of the restart.
Flanagan broke the offside trap and found herself one-on-one with Hall before smashing the ball into the roof of the net to all but secure the three points.
Six minutes later Flanagan had her second of the afternoon after Parker put in a teasing cross for her to tap in.
Parker picked the ball up on the left wing and dissected the Wolves defence with a low cross to leave Flanagan with an easy finish for 4-0.
Wolves pulled a goal back in the 58th minute from the penalty spot after Danielle Brown brought down Jennifer Kikomeko.
Wolves captain Danielle Selmes stepped up to take the spot kick and nestled the ball into the corner to reduce the deficit.
The penalty sparked a flurry of incidents in a matter of minutes as, first, Flanagan had a goal ruled out after referee Mark Moore had already awarded a free kick before Forster had a goal disallowed due to Carroll being injured in the back of the net; this despite the assistant referee awarding a goal after Hall had palmed her long range effort into the roof of the net.
The away side pulled another goal back in the 65th minute with Selmes adding her second of the afternoon after a strong run, cutting in from the right wing and firing into the roof of the net.
From the resulting kick off, PNE went straight for the jugular and restored their three goal advantage inside a minute.
The ball was played direct from the restart and Swarbrick lofted it over the onrushing Hall to make it 5-2.
PNE had further chances to extend their lead with Forshaw firing just over the bar and Hall preventing Beth Stanfield getting her name on the scoresheet before Forshaw completed the scoring from close range with three minutes left.
The result sees PNE move up to eighth in the league and now sees them go on a run of three straight away matches starting with Newcastle United on Sunday.
PNE were dominant from the referee’s first whistle and created numerous opportunities in the opening twenty minutes.
Flanagan was denied twice by Wolves goalkeeper Natalie Hall before Paige Forster clipped the top of the bar from twenty five yards.
The waves of attack continued and paid off in the 28th minute, Flanagan darted past two defenders and squared to Parker who curled the ball into the corner from the edge of the area past the dive of Hall.
The lead was soon extended as Carroll headed in just three minutes later to make it 2-0.
North End captain Laura Walker floated a deep free kick into the box and Carroll rose above her marker to double the advantage.
Wolves rarely threatened in the first half and it was all PNE towards the interval with Hall once again denying Flanagan before Forster hit the ‘bar for a second time with an audacious lob from thirty yards out.
Similar to the first half, PNE came out firing on all cylinders and made it 3-0 within forty seconds of the restart.
Flanagan broke the offside trap and found herself one-on-one with Hall before smashing the ball into the roof of the net to all but secure the three points.
Six minutes later Flanagan had her second of the afternoon after Parker put in a teasing cross for her to tap in.
Parker picked the ball up on the left wing and dissected the Wolves defence with a low cross to leave Flanagan with an easy finish for 4-0.
Wolves pulled a goal back in the 58th minute from the penalty spot after Danielle Brown brought down Jennifer Kikomeko.
Wolves captain Danielle Selmes stepped up to take the spot kick and nestled the ball into the corner to reduce the deficit.
The penalty sparked a flurry of incidents in a matter of minutes as, first, Flanagan had a goal ruled out after referee Mark Moore had already awarded a free kick before Forster had a goal disallowed due to Carroll being injured in the back of the net; this despite the assistant referee awarding a goal after Hall had palmed her long range effort into the roof of the net.
The away side pulled another goal back in the 65th minute with Selmes adding her second of the afternoon after a strong run, cutting in from the right wing and firing into the roof of the net.
From the resulting kick off, PNE went straight for the jugular and restored their three goal advantage inside a minute.
The ball was played direct from the restart and Swarbrick lofted it over the onrushing Hall to make it 5-2.
PNE had further chances to extend their lead with Forshaw firing just over the bar and Hall preventing Beth Stanfield getting her name on the scoresheet before Forshaw completed the scoring from close range with three minutes left.
The result sees PNE move up to eighth in the league and now sees them go on a run of three straight away matches starting with Newcastle United on Sunday.