Owls Ladies Edge PNE

Sheffield Wednesday Ladies bagged a 2-1 win against their Preston North End counterparts to kick-start their 2010 league campaign in fine style.

The Owls started brightly and Tayna Rich broke the deadlock early on to give Wednesday the advantage they deserved.

They continued to press for a second, with Hollie Barker impressive throughout, but the stubborn PNE defence held firm to keep the Owls from adding to their score before half-time.

And the Lancastrians snatched a leveller going into the break.

It needed Rich to be at the top of her game and she bagged a second and the winner midway through the second half.

Preston pushed for a way back into the game, especially in the last ten minutes, but the Owls held out for a vital win.

The Owls return to action this Sunday against Curzon Ashton in a match which could lift them out of the bottom two.

Wednesday manager Liam Kelly said: 'The girls deserved this, not just for the performance and work ethic today, but for the last 3 weeks, the training programme has been hit and miss due to the weather, but the players have kept themselves in shape, worked hard when we have trained, their newly found professional attitudes around the camp and the fact that everyone has come together, whether in the first 11 or on the bench.

'The players now have that winning mentality and know what it takes to win, and 3 wins in as many weeks just puts a smile on everyone faces, and with the likes of Barker, Sherwood, Severns, Maslin and Rich all having an illness in the past week but playing twice, notably Barker even on her last legs, just shows what it means to them to play for this great club, but then again that`s the mentality of everyone at the moment.'

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