Durham Women suffered defeat on the road as they travelled to face Charlton Athletic.
Goals either side of the interval from Mel Johnson and Angela Addison were enough for the Addicks – but the scoreline didn’t tell the story of a game in which the visitors had plenty of chances.
Indeed, it was Durham who started brightly and had all the early running.
An early free-kick saw Dee Bradley have a shot deflected wide moments before Sian Rogers did well to deny Jess Clarke from inside the area.
Lily Crosthwaite then came within inches of handing the Wildcats a deserved lead when her shot beat Rogers but came back off the woodwork.
Yet against the run of play it was Charlton who went ahead – Johnson converting from the spot after Lauren Bruton went down in the box.
Durham rallied though, with Beth Hepple seeing a half-volley held by the home stopper and Clarke coming close with a header in injury time.
But the Blues had to do plenty of defending in the early stages of the second half as the hosts came out with a renewed vigour.
Sarah Robson made a heroic block to keep the Addicks at bay after a quick counter-attack and Emily Simpkins side-footed wide after being found in space.
A second would eventually come for Charlton with 20 minutes remaining, as Addison kept her cool to slot past Naoisha McAloon from 10 yards.
Durham did their best to forge a route back into the game – and arguably should have had a penalty late on when substitute Bridget Galloway was brought down in the box – but saw their three-game unbeaten run come to an end.