Sutton Coldfield Town 1-0 Crusaders

Sutton gained revenge for their opening-day defeat with victory over Crusaders

The first chance of the game came after 3 minutes, when a Crusaders attacker had an effort that sailed well wide of Lottie McElroy’s goal

Sutton went straight down the other end and had their first chance, when good work by Phoebe Hopwood eventually resulted in a chance for Aimee Taylor which flew over the crossbar

7 minutes in and a free-kick from captain Ruth Graham was headed goalwards but well held by the goalkeeper

Another save from the keeper less than a minute later prevented Hopwood from giving Sutton the lead

Sutton almost scored from a corner on 10 minutes, however the glancing-header went just wide of the far-post

Brittany Civil called the keeper into action again 2 minutes later with a shot from just inside the penalty-area

Freya Smith did well to prevent a Crusaders attacker from getting a clean strike on goal after 14 minutes, ensuring the shot flew harmlessly wide

A smart-turn and strike from the edge of the penalty-area saw Crusaders hit the crossbar on 17 minutes, with the rebound being volleyed goalwards and well-held by McElroy

Graham tried her luck from a free-kick on 20 minutes, which was pushed away by the keeper

5 minutes later Civil found the side-netting with a strike after a good run

A Crusaders defender had to prevent a ball from rolling into an empty-net on 27 minutes, when a clearance by the keeper had struck Hopwood and rebounded towards goal

Hopwood nearly opened the scoring 8 minutes prior to half-time when latching onto a clearance before the onrushing-keeper, however the shot rolled just wide of the post

A long-range effort from out wide proved no trouble for McElroy as the half entered stoppage-time

HT - 0-0

The second-half saw plenty of stoppages early-on, so it was not until an effort by Hopwood which was straight at the keeper after 58 minutes that the first shot of the half came along

A lengthy stoppage due to a Crusaders injury ensured there would be plenty of stoppage-time to finish the game

Chloe Finn struck a shot over the crossbar with 68 minutes played

With 10 minutes remaining Amelia Lightfoot went through on goal but was unable to get the shot away before the keeper closed her down, resulting in the shot being blocked and forced wide for a corner

Smith saw a shot blocked from close-range with 6 minutes to play

30 seconds later the deadlock was finally broken, when good work by Finn saw Lightfoot finish from close-range to put the Royals in front

In stoppage-time Sarah Lampitt won the ball back deep in the Crusaders half and tried her luck, however the ball flew narrowly over the crossbar

An altercation in stoppage-time saw Lightfoot and a Crusaders player both shown straight red-cards, as well as a further yellow-card for a Crusaders player

Lampitt saw another shot blocked deep into stoppage-time that rebounded out for a throw-in near the corner-flag

This proved the last action of the game as the referee blew for full-time

FT - 1-0

Player-of-the-Match was Sarah Lampitt, who was confident and composed throughout and whose work-rate was second-to-none