Laura Elford scored for the third successive game as Huddersfield Town Women moved into fourth in the Northern Premier Division.
Elford, who scored in the previous two games against Loughborough, crashed home a shot off the woodwork to set up a 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest Women at the Stafflex Arena.
The opening goal, created by Paige Crossman, came after only nine minutes. Serena Fletcher doubled the home side’s lead two minutes before half-time when she fired a long-range effort over the head of keeper Emily Batty.
Forest, unbeaten in nine previous matches, fought back in the second half but the Town defence held firm.
The Terriers were denied a clean sheet in the dying seconds as Forest struck with the last kick of the game.
Becky Anderson caught Town cold when she drilled home a free-kick from 25 yards but there were loud complaints from the Town players who claimed they hadn’t heard the whistle.
The complaints fell on deaf ears, the points were in the bag and Town leapfrogged their opponents to stretch their unbeaten run to seven matches.
Town first team coach Kamran Hussain said: “We knew how important the game was coming into this and the girls have performed fantastically.
“We knew Forest were going to be a good footballing side, we knew what we were up against. We couldn’t have started it any better with Elford putting us ahead quickly.
“We are super proud but we need to keep our feet on the ground and look towards the next game.”
That next game is Middlesbrough on Sunday January 23 at the Stafflex Arena.
