Durham secured a 3-2 victory over London City Lionesses at Maiden Castle to go joint top of the Barclays Women’s Championship.
Carly Johns and Mollie Lambert’s first-half strikes gave the Blues the lead and Beth Hepple converted from the spot in the second half.
Tatiana Saunders prevented an equaliser from the penalty spot to secure the points for Durham.
Adam Furness kept an unchanged side from last week’s draw at St Mary’s.
Durham got off to a dream start as Lambert broke through to square it to Johns to strike in the 16th minute.
Lambert came close to securing an instant second for the Wildcats after catching London goalkeeper Grace Moloney out but her strike was just shy of the post.
Izzy Goodwin equalised for the Lionesses two minutes before half-time after Sofia Jakobsson beat Durham’s offside trap and fed in Goodwin to score a near-mirror image of the host’s opener.
It wouldn’t take long for Durham to restore their lead as Michaela Foster’s shot was parried by Grace Moloney only as far as Lambert who lashed in the follow-up in stoppage time.
Lambert was then hacked down for a penalty in the 54th minute which Beth Hepple calmly slotted past Moloney.
London City got one back in the 71st minute when Goodwin’s strike whipped past Saunders and into the top corner for the Lionesses and her second.
Five minutes later the assistant referee awards a penalty for London for handball which Saunders dived at full stretch to stop.
London City looked closer to an equaliser as the game ticked on but Durham managed to hang on through the nine minutes of additional time.
The result puts the Wildcats joint top of the league going into the three-week break from league fixtures.