Howells of delight: Lewes Women get better of Charlton

Ellie Hack's towering header gave Lewes the lead before Kiera Skeels equalised in the first half. But Howells' wonder strike secured the victory for Lewes after the break.

The first chance of the game came in the fourth minute when Elisha N’Dow played a wild back pass to Charlton goalkeeper Sian Rogers. She failed to clear the danger and parried the ball away for a corner. And from the resulting set-piece, Hack met Natalie Johnson’s delivery with a thumping header into the top left corner.

The Addicks tried their luck from outside the box as Bethan Roe struck a curling effort that went over the bar. Moments later, Karen Hills’ side equalised after Skeels notched a powerful header from Emily Simpkins’ corner to bring Charlton back into the game.

In the 30th minute, Sophie Whitehouse produced a vital save to deny Simpkins from close-range and keep Lewes in the game. Charlton almost took the lead just before the end of the first half. The ball fell to Freda Ayisi, whose deflected strike forced Whitehouse to produce another astounding save.

Scott Booth's side started the second half strongly, eventually taking the lead through Howells. The 25-year-old midfielder scored a screamer from inside the box that sailed past goalkeeper Rogers on its way to the top corner.

Just before the hour mark, Whitehouse reacted brilliantly to tip N'Dow's header over the bar. The home side continued to defend superbly at the edge of the box as time ticked down, and that was enough to secure the three points.

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Lewes manager Scott Booth said: "Our players worked their socks off and they were in the game from the first minute to the last. We had to hold on a little bit in the last few minutes and they showed a lot of character. I don't doubt this team at all and they have been fantastic since day one. The first goal we scored, it's something we've worked on a lot in training and actually the third goal that Ellie Hack has scored like that. It's always nice to see it come into fruition.

"We didn't deal with the corner at all [for the equaliser] and we've been very good in that department. We've not lost goals from corners. We normally work really hard at getting physical and making sure that we get to the ball first. But on that occasion, we were really sloppy and was a very easy goal to give away to Charlton.

"Sophie Whitehouse made an absolutely phenomenal save where she uses her foot to save it and don't know how she managed to do it. But it kept us in the game at a really important time and I think in the second half, we were able to capitalise on it.

"We needed to come out and stick to the game plan we discussed at half-time, making sure we took our opportunities when they came. I felt we had a good shape in the second half and scored a really phenomenal goal from Howells.

"We understood that we had to be in a compact shape and I think we created lots of opportunities on the transition and to attack as we picked up the balls quite well at times. The last five minutes was really tight and Charlton were pushing. We look to go in with same sort of positivity into our next match and look to win every game we play."