Stevenage Women earn win over Wroxham to keep pace

The result means Boro kept pace with AFC Sudbury and Needham Market in the chase for leaders Luton.

Chances were at a premium, with most attacks on the right as captain Lucy Webster and player of the match Millen combined well.

Makewell, in her 80th match for Stevenage, missed two of the best early chances, while Millen also had a great one-on-one battle with Wroxham keeper Cyan Fullbrook.

The first goal came from a superb cross by Hannah Nebbitt on the left as the ball fell kindly for Makewell to poke it over the line for a deserved lead.

Stevenage switched things around at half time, introducing Susan Uwaifo and Shianne Swarres, the latter returning from a two-month lay-off.

Uwaifo thought she had scored a second goal when she was fouled on the edge of the box, but regained her footing and slid the ball home. The referee had already blown his whistle, leaving Becky Shephard to test Fullbrook from the resulting free kick.

Millen received the ball on the right and lofted a superb effort over Fullbrook’s head, but also the bar just before the hour, but she found the target after a marauding run by Emily Schofield, who found Uwaifo to hold the ball up before sending Millen into the box on the right to find the net.

Makewell returned to the pitch in the closing minutes and went close to extending the lead, while Swarres saw an audacious lob towards the top corner agonisingly kept out as Fullbrook pushed it against the post and clear.

The crowd even saw the ball run along the crossbar, but there was no third goal as Uwaifo found herself booked, along with did Boro manager Fadi Mazloum.

It leaves Borough with two massive home league ties before Christmas as they face fellow title chasers Needham Market, before an even bigger test in Luton Town.

Stevenage: O’Brien, Webster, Neal, Farmer, Nebbitt, Price, Southby, Shephard, Millen, Makewell, Bellinger. Subs: Swarres, Greenwood, Bodily, Uwaifo, Schofield.