Doncaster Rovers Belles 3 Durham 0

Durham manager Lee Sanders admitted his side were punished for losing their way in the second-half as Doncaster Rovers Belles eased to a 3-0 win.

The Belles, hotly tipped as one of the favourites in this year’s FA Women’s Super League 2 after missing out on promotion by just two points last year, were unable to find a way past a determined Durham side in the first 45 minutes.

But goals from Courtney Sweetman-Kirk, Bethany England and Sue Smith turned the tie in the hosts favour, leaving Sanders to rue a tough opening start to the season.

“We’ve had arguably the hardest start that we could have had. Everyone’s touting Doncaster as possibly one of the two that will go up, and probably rightly so,” he said.

“We went in at half time and obviously Doncaster are a great side – one of the favourites to win the league – but one half isn’t good enough.

“Over the 90 minutes they were the better side. They came out second half and got three goals against us. We didn’t compete as well as we did in the first half. It’s not good enough.

“For the first goal we just wanted it in row Z but we’ve messed about with it in the box and we’ve been punished, and it’s an uphill struggle from there. We’ve just got to put the game behind us.”

It was actually the visitors who came closest to getting the opening goal with Rachel Lee curling wide on 20 minutes.

But Sweetman-Kirk eventually found the net on 53 minutes from close range after stealing past Emily Scott.

England doubled the lead seven minutes later when she ran onto Sophie Barker’s lofted ball before Sue Smith added a third 13 minutes from time.

Belles head coach Glen Harris said: “You’re going to be a little bit nervous on your first game, but I had faith in the girls, I trust the girls, and they showed great patience and great quality.

“We told the players at the beginning that they need to be patient and they did that, so I’m happy with that.

“Us, Everton and probably Reading have been tagged as favourites, we can’t hide from that, but we’ve got to take that on the chin and actually make sure we’re prepared properly for each game.

“I think the girls have shown that they’re fit, shown their skill, and they’re raring to go for the season, so hopefully now we can relax and push on.”

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