Sunderland beat Durham to end Stadium of Light jinx | OneFootball

Sunderland ended their Stadium of Light hoodoo with a 2-0 triumph over Durham in the Barclays Women’s Championship this afternoon.

Goals either side of the break from Libbi McInnes and Amy Goddard did the damage for The Lady Black Cats, who completed the league double over their River Wear rivals.

The game began in subdued fashion, with chances at a premium. Katie Kitching had the first effort on goal from 20 yards, which was comfortably saved. However, the hosts made their superiority count on the half-hour mark. A wonderful delivery from Kitching was met by the mid-air boot of McInnes to open the scoring.

Kitching went agonisingly close to a second before half-time when she hit the inside of the post from 12 yards, as Sunderland ended the half the stronger.

The second Sunderland goal did arrive two minutes after the restart. The visitors failed to deal with a corner, Jessie Stapleton headed into the six-yard box, and Goddard stabbed the loose ball in to double the lead.

Beth Hepple’s free-kick was tipped wide by Demi Lambourne as Durham came forward before Kitching’s sour luck in front of goal continued when she had a goal disallowed for offside after a long delay.

Lambourne was called into action again when she denied Michaela Foster, before both Mollie Lambert and Sarah Wilson wasted presentable chances to get the away side back into the game.

In the end, the spoils went the way of Sunderland, who have now won five league games in succession against The Wildcats.

Sunderland travel to the Leigh Sports Village on Saturday to face Manchester United in the Adobe Women’s FA Cup quarter-finals while Durham host Newcastle United in their next Barclays Women’s Championship fixture on Sunday 16 March.