The Wildcats suffered their third defeat of the week after they were beaten 4-1 by Millwall Lionesses.
A hat-trick from striker Lille Bilson and a goal Dionne Lennon sealed the victory for the Lionesses. Caroline Dixon grabbed a consolation goal for the home side.
Her first came in the fifth minute of the match after she beat the Durham defence and slotted the ball past Luther. The second was a 30-yard strike that sailed into the back of the net.
It was the home side who started brightly and could have found themselves with a two-goal lead in the opening minutes of the match after Beth Jennings twice met the crosses of Zoe Ness and Jess Round.
But it was Millwall who opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Bilson nipped through Durham’s defence and slipped a powerful shot past Luther in the Durham goal.
Despite going a goal down, Durham started to string together a period of play that saw them play great link-up play between each other. Ness had almost found Stacy Crooks on this occasion but the ball eventually fell to Beth Hepple who’s shot was blocked.
Both sides were having plenty of chances and Millwall’s Lily Agg had plenty of chances to double the lead for the away side but was able to convert a number of chances.
On the half-hour mark, Durham perhaps had their best chance of the first-half to find an equaliser. After a sustained period of Millwall pressure, Durham combined well and it was Becky Hanratty who played a lovely one-two with Round to send a whipped cross into the box. Initially cleared by the Millwall defence, the ball fell to Crooks who had her shot saved by Sarah Quantrill.
Audacious shots have become a regular occurrence at New Ferens Park and Millwall’s Bilson who made space for herself to strike the ball from 30-yards out to give the Lionesses a two-goal lead.
Half-time and it was Durham 0 Millwall 2.
The second-half saw Millwall continue to apply a high amount of pressure and it was the away side who began to hem the Wildcats in their own half. They were struggling to find a way past Millwall and the away side’s continuous pressure finally paid off in the 56th minute.
Luther had earlier done extremely well to turn over a dipping cross from a corner but this time she was beaten when Dionne Lennon headed the ball in from close range.
Defender Ellie Christon had been involved in starting many chances for the Wildcats and her pass into Ness saw the midfielder turn in the box but was unable to get her shot away.
Bilson completed her hat-trick in the 74th minute when she was allowed time to find space and send another strike from distance to give the visiting side a 4-0 lead.
Almost five minutes later Durham had a goal of their own when Yasmine Hardy was brought down in the box. Jess Round had picked up the ball in midfield before playing the ball into the box. A clever turn from Crooks fouled the Millwall defence to allow Hardy through on goal before being chopped down in the box.
Caroline Dixon stepped up as she did against Sunderland to send Quantrill the wrong way to make the score 4-1 to Millwall.
That was to be the end of the goals as the final few minutes saw the game fizzle out as Millwall secured their first win in the WSL 2.