A brace from Caroline Dixon secured Durham Women’s first home victory of the season as they beat London Bees 2-1 and survived a late onslaught from the away side.
Dixon’s first came in the 11th minute when she converted a penalty before adding her second in the 19th when she reacted quickest to a loose ball in the box to calmly slot the ball home.
The opening ten minutes saw both sides finding their feet and it was only a minute later when beth Jennings hassling as she looked to latch onto a long ball forward. Her persistence paid off as she was fouled in the box.
Up stepped Dixon to take the penalty and she sent Rowlands the wrong way to give Durham a 1-0 lead.
Sarah Wilson produced a fantastic block right when Amber Gaylor unleashed an effort on goal and it was her block that allowed Durham to break to win a corner.
Swung in by Beth Hepple, the ball bounced in the area before Dixon was in the right place at the right time to poke the ball into the back of the net.
Durham continued to dominate proceedings and came close to adding a third through a number of chances.
Firstly Jemma Purfield latched on to a long ball forward from Dixon and her powerful volley was straight at Rowlands in the London Bees goal. Dixon almost completed her hat-trick with an effort from 40-yards out but Rowlands dealt with it comfortably.
The final moments of the first-half should have seen Durham have the ball in the back of the net, Jordan Atkinson found space down the right-hand side with a shot that stung the hands of Rowlands. The loose ball then fell to Purfield whose left-footed shot went agonisingly wide.
Half-time and Durham had a 2-0 lead.
It was London Bees who came out fighting at the start of the second-half with Gaylor putting her effort wide.
Hepple had Durham’s best chance of the second-half when her free kick dipped to look like it was about to make its way into the back of the goal only to be denied by a fantastic one-handed save by Cherie Rowlands.
Despite having a two goal advantage it was London Bees who grew into the second-half sending a number of warning signs to Durham with Anneka Nuttall sending an effort wide when Durham had failed to clear the ball properly.
The Bees had the ball in the back of the net in the 70th minute but it was quickly disallowed as Wilson had been fouled in the process.
It only seemed to spur the away side on and they pulled a goal back through Sydney Hinchcliffe beat the Wildcats offside trap to tap the ball into the back of the net.
Durham had to survive an onslaught of pressure from the Bees in the final 13 minutes of the game and it was tackles from Wilson and Linsley that denied Nuttall as she searched for an equaliser.
Right at the death it was Ellie Christon who cleared the ball off the line to deny London Bees another goal and secured Durham’s first win at home this season.