Women’s Premiership: Linfield peg back Sion Swifts as Crusaders hammer Reds

Sion Swifts and Linfield both kept their slim hopes of winning this season’s Women’s Premiership alive after a 2-2 draw in in Strabane.
Erin Fildara twice gave Tony McGinley’s side the lead but Linfield hit back each time through Rebecca McKenna and Alison Smyth respectively.
Glentoran top the table by five points over the Blues and Crusaders Strikers.
The Crues ran out 7-0 winners against Cliftonville as Emily Wilson netted four goals at Solitude.
Glentoran – who did not play on Wednesday – are now five points clear of the Linfield and Crusaders with two games to go, with Sion Swifts a further two points back but still possessing a game in hand.
The title is far from secure for the Glens yet as they have to play Sion – who defeated them earlier in the campaign – and travel to in-form Crusaders, while the Blues and Sion are still to face each other in south Belfast.
Crusaders Strikers ran out emphatic seven-goal victors at Cliftonville in the north Belfast derby on a night when striker Wilson netted four goals.
Claire Rooney’s own goal opened the scoring for the Strikers before Amy McGivern’s towering header from a corner doubled the score before the break.
Wilson netted twice in the second half for Spike Hill’s side with the Reds’ Fionnula Morgan sent-off in between those strikes for an off-the-ball incident – the third successive home game when Cliftonville have finished with 10 players.
The Crues then extended their lead to five as experienced defender and captain Julie Nelson scored directly from a free-kick to wrap up the points.
Wilson then netted twice more in the closing stages to complete her quartet of goals and wrap up an impressive derby triumph.