Scarborough Ladies secure promotion after Bradford win

With captain Kelly Brown and vice-captain Eliza McMillan unavailable, the captaincy fell to Frances Livera.

Lizzie Houghton opened the scoring from a well-rehearsed short corner to make it 1-0.

Stand-in captain Frances Livera scored their second with a strike into the top-corner from another short corner.

Right-winger Amelia Holdsworth played some wonderful passes and Scarborough were often dangerous in the opposition’s circle.

Bradford had plenty of skillful players and proved a handful.

A move from the right led to a pass to the penalty spot for a strong finish by their centre-forward for 2-1.

Stella Garside had to save a one-on-one after a Bradford breakaway.

After a short-corner to Bradford it was Harriet Fawley who saved on the right post with a flat stick.

But the defence held strong and several 16-yard hits from Frances Livera went all the way to Holdsworth or Joanna Shephard, who dodged some strong stick tackles to get the assist to

Alexandra Bester for goal number three for Scarborough, neatly slotted away past the young Bradford goalkeeper to make it 3-1.

Defender Jacqueline Livera sent a fast accurate pass to Shephard and a textbook attack followed.

When Houghton got the ball next she threaded it through via Bester, who found Harriet Stephenson wide open on the far left and she made it 4-1.

Another assist by Bester led to another goal by Stephenson, who is always dangerous in the circle, to make it 5-1 to Scarborough.

Bradford were awarded a disputed goal from inside the D after Ashlea Merron had cleared the danger superbly, making the score 5-2.

After numerous short corners, Lizzie Houghton made sure it was her strike to seal the league title for Scarborough, who celebrated on the pitch and got congratulated by their opponents after their 6-2 win.

Unfortunately there was no game for the Mens 2nds as Airedale were unable to field a team.

The Mens 1sts continued their championship-winning form with an impressive 7-1 victory away to City of York 6ths, their 17th straight victory.

There were two hat-tricks during the match.

Anthony Allison was in form as he hit four and captain Rikki Lawrence also completed his hat-trick.

There are four matches scheduled for this upcoming weekend.

On Saturday the Mens 1sts host Airedale 2nds.

The Mens 2nds are away to Driffield 3rds and the Ladies host Horsforth Ladies.

On Sunday the Mens 2nds have a rescheduled match away to joint league-leaders Bingley Bees 1sts.