Women's football: Landmark goal sees Wolves edge past Stoke

The striker’s 100th goal in just her 113th match for the club proved to be the winner in Sunday’s hard-fought National Women’s League North Division clash.

Hughes slammed home left-footed from the edge of the box to put the league leaders two goals up in Telford after Beth Merrick had opened the scoring.

But the home side were made to work for the victory after Delphi Cole netted a penalty early in the second half. Merric was then denied from the spot late on. 

Hughes said: “It feels amazing. There was obviously a bit of build-up to this week and it was something I was conscious of but ultimately, I’m here to help the team.

“It was a really nice and special moment, one I am glad I could celebrate with the girls.

“It is definitely up there (among my best). I don’t score many with my left foot. It just came to me and I thought: ‘This is my moment’. Thankfully, it went in.”

Albion left it late before running out comfortable 3-0 winners at Derby.

Fran Orthodoxou came off the bench to break the deadlock with 15 minutes remaining, with fellow substitute Ellie May then quickly doubling the lead.

Phoebe Warner extended her scoring streak to three matches to add further gloss to the victory.

Sporting Khalsa remain one off the bottom of the table after losing 2-0 away to Middlesbrough.

Villa boss Natalia Arroyo joked her team must learn to score “boring” goals after two stunning strikes brought their first win of the Women’s Super League season.

Kirsty Hanson curled a shot into the top corner to put Villa ahead at West Ham on the hour mark, with Lynn Wilms then hitting a free-kick into the same part of the net just a few minutes later.

The win continued an encouraging start to the season for Villa, following on from the previous weekend’s 1-1 draw at Arsenal.

Arroyo said: “It was an important win for us, after starting the season with good performances but not the results we wanted.

“It was another good performance. We are competitive, we are consistent, we are robust, we are solid and I think that is very positive. They were two amazing goals.

“We need to work on boring goals, sometimes, because we had chances. But they were great.”

Kidderminster Harriers are into the first round proper of the FA Cup after a thrilling win on penalties over Shrewsbury Town.

Liv Woolston levelled late to earn Harriers a 3-3 draw in 90 minutes, before they prevailed 5-4 in the shoot-out.

Lye Town are also into the first round after a 3-0 win away at Walsall.