Morecambe Ladies 1-2 Leeds United LFC

In the early stages, Morecambe settled the better with Erin Menzies and Louise Gibbins getting plenty of joy out of the Leeds full backs.

Yas Swarbrick also looked busy and she opened the scoring after 15 minutes.

Laura Callis made a saving tackle in defence, getting the ball up to Millie Brown and out to Menzies on the left – her cross was brought down by Swarbrick and laid off for Becky Whittingham who played it across field to Louise Gibbins whose low cross was prodded home by Swarbrick, an effective end to a flowing move.

Swarbrick then fired over and set Sophie Fish through, only to see her shot clear the wrong side of the crossbar.

On the half hour the blizzard settled in, a clumsy challenge should have given the home side a penalty as Swarbrick drove in towards goal, and Leeds keeper Lauryn Colman made an excellent diving save to push Gibbins’ shot past the post.

Leeds came out more organised for the second half and they had their best move of the half when centre forward Carey Huegett blazed over what would have been a deserved finish.

The equaliser came from a free-kick which Morecambe failed to clear decisively.

The ball was picked up by left winger Shelby Morris who weaved through a static defence and shot past the ‘keeper to make it 1-1 at Lancaster & Morecambe College.

Tails up, Leeds looked to profit from their momentum and pressed the home side, forcing a catalogue of poor passes, and were rewarded for their tenacity in the 20th minute of the second period when a Leeds corner was cleared, falling to Rebecca Hall outside the area she hit a sweet shot which flew in just below the bar to give the visitors a 2-1 lead.

With time running out, Morecambe had a great chance to equalise when Jade Thornhill’s pass was lifted over the defence by Megan Doherty, Beth Fisher was on the penalty spot with only the ‘keeper to beat but stabbed her shot wide.