Huddersfield Town ladies eased the pressure and moved up to eighth in the FAWPL table with a 4-3 home win over Newcastle United Women.

Town started brightly and went ahead in the second minute of the game when Rachael Ackroyd played in Emily Heckler who chipped the ball neatly over the advancing keeper.

Town continued to create and Bianca Ross and Ackroyd both had chances to increase Town’s lead.

At the other end Town’s back four were coping well with the pace of Newcastle’s attack and on the odd occasion that Laura Carter was called into action she pulled off some neat saves.

In the 43rd minute Beth Jennings played Heckler through to make it 2-0.

In the final minute of the half Ackroyd broke clear and the Newcastle keeper half saved her shot, Heckler was on hand to complete a first half hat trick.

Town started the second half brightly and were a constant threat on the Newcastle goal.

On the hour mark Ackroyd once again provided a ball from the right, Katie Nutter danced around a couple of tackles before calmly slotting the ball home to make it 4-0.

Newcastle scored a breakaway goal with 22 minutes of the game remaining and then Town had two or three excellent chances to put the game to bed.

Newcastle were encouraged by those misses and decided to launch a final wave of attacks, they scored in the 87th minute to make the game interesting and again in the 89th minute.

In the end Town – who are without a fixture at the weekend – held on for a well deserved victory.

The club’s development team secured a 2-0 home win over Leeds Ladies with a first half screamer from Demi Wisher and a second half strike from Rachel Sherrard.

On Sunday the development team are at home to Stockport County Ladies (2pm).

The academy team lost at the quarter-final stage of the Krukowski Cup 2-0 at home to Dronfield Town.

On Sunday the academy team are at home to Hemsworth Miners (2pm).

The Under 16 side became the last of the six Town Ladies teams to lose their unbeaten record this season when they were beaten 2-1 by a superior Rotherham United Whitehill side who outplayed Town in every department.

From the off Rotherham were the better side and the home side were good value for their 1-0 half-time lead.

Town improved in the second half but were two down on 51 minutes.

Town pulled a goal back with 20 minutes remaining from a penalty after a high challenge – Ella Harris stepped up and rather scuffed the spot kick which the home keeper managed to dive over allowing the ball to trickle over the line.

The goal was Harris’ 100th for the Town Ladies club as she joined fellow centurion Amy Broomhead on three figures.

Next Saturday the Under 16 team entertain Dronfield Town in the League Cup semi-finals (10.30am).

The Under 14 team were without a fixture, but on Saturday they will entertain Sheffield United Community Ladies in the League Cup semi-final (10.30am).

The Under 12 side were also inactive last weekend, but on Saturday they travel to Dronfield Town to play their Plate semi-final (11am).