Battling Gills boost Premier League hopes with win over West Ham

Sent Her Forward round-up

• Top four win in Premier League title race – but a vital victory for one of the relegation battlers
• Forest Green on the brink
• Portsmouth’s Development team go on goal spree as Charlton head for title
• Fulham promotion hopes dented by Carshalton
• South East Counties promotion battle hots up
• Hurstpierpoint rack up 16 goals in latest county league mis-match

Sarah Kempson’s second-half goal kept Portsmouth firmly in the Premier League title race (Photo: Jordan Hampton)

Gillingham are celebrating possibly their best week of the season after following up their Kent Women’s Cup triumph with a crucial win over West Ham to boost their chances of avoiding relegation.

Charlton in the hunt for league grand slam of trophies

Charlton’s first team could still win the Premier League, while their reserves and development sides are in the running for their respective titles (Photo: Geoff Penn/BHAFC)

Charlton Athletic are in the running for an extraordinary haul of trophies, with all three of their sides in with a chance of league titles or promotion – and with the first team still in four cup competitions.

Sister act: training ground accident leads to knockout win for Abbey

Sent Her Forward’s weekend round-up begins with the story of the sisters whose training-ground drama had a big impact on their team’s result on Sunday

Rachel and Hannah Johnson were treated in hospital after suffering suspected concussion in a training ground collision (Copyright: Neville Dalton/Sent Her Forward – not to be used without permission)

Substitute Rachel Johnson proved a knockout for Abbey Rangers as her two second-half goals helped overturn a three-goal deficit and keep the club in the South East Counties League promotion race.

Wright and Henry-Evans quit Chichester posts

Sent Her Forward exclusive

Matt Wright and Caroline (Caz) Henry-Evans have beeen managers at Chichester City for best part of the last decade (Photo: Darran Stevens)

Chichester City have been hit by a double bombshell after both their first- and second-team managers revealed they are quitting.

Late penalty blow hands Lewes youngsters a timely lesson

Lewes Development (Tagg, Tibble) 2-2 Gillingham Reserves (Loosemore, North pen)

An injury-time penalty denied Lewes’s second string a second successive league victory after going most of the season without one at all in a game spoilt by the windy conditions at the Convent Field.

The 33 minutes that hold the key to Umotong’s World Cup dream

Ini Umotong has nine games left with Pompey to help her case for a place at the summer World Cup (Photo: Matt Underwood)

Ini Umotong’s World Cup prospects rest largely on what she has already achieved in her brief spell with the Nigeria national squad after being forced to miss her country’s next three crucial qualifying matches because of commitments in England.

Another Kent County Cup triumph – but a new dawn for Gillingham

Kent Women’s Cup final: Gillingham 5-3 London Corinthians

Gillingham’s fourth successive County cup triumph is a competition record (Photo: Kent FA)

Gillingham, the biggest women’s club in Kent, won the county cup – as has become their custom – for a record fourth time in a row. But their victory over gallant London Corinthians in last night’s final at Maidstone United heralds the start of a new era rather than an extension of the old.

More home comforts lead Lancing to the brink

Lancing (Cobb, Watson, Thaxter) 3-1 Lewes (French)

Both sides put on a fine footballing display

Lancing moved to the brink of the Sussex county league title in their first season with a hard-fought victory over Lewes in another fine advert for women’s football in the county.

Bedford bombshell: when results don’t always tell the whole story

Brighton fielded a strong reserves side when beating Gillingham Reserves 10-0

Results aren’t always all they seem. The respective strengths of the two sides can transform a match (and its outcome) – especially in the women’s game, and particularly below the élite levels.

The league where this is most starkly illustrated is in the FAW Premier Reserves League, where the mix of development and first-team players in both sides is often crucial to the result.

Boot on the other foot as Bedford thrash Brighton

Wivelsfield Green’s win over Worthing Town was one of the few games that did not contain a shock (Photo: Dave Burt)

While Brighton’s first team were shocking Premier League leaders Cardiff City, their reserves were in for an even bigger surprise when they were thumped 8-3 at home by Premier Reserves League strugglers Bedford.

The result was sensational for a number of reasons – not just the teams’ respective positions in the league.

Brighton, the reigning champions, harbour hopes of retaining the title, and were in second place before yesterday’s fixtures.