Women's football: Sunderland eye fifth-place finish
Mick Mulhern’s team are away to second bottom Nottingham Forest in their final game tomorrow, with a fifth-place finish in their sights.
After leading the table for most of the season, Sunderland have dropped down to sixth place after the leading
teams finally caught up on their fixture backlog.
A dip in form this year has been a disappointment but will not overshadow a brilliant performance after winning promotion from the Northern Division last season.
A point from tomorrow’s game will see Sunderland climb above Doncaster Rovers Belles, who have already completed their programme.
And that will leave Sunderland behind only the big four of Arsenal, Everton, Leeds Carnegie and Chelsea.
Of those four, Sunderland have only failed to beat Everton this season. And the 2-1 win against champions Arsenal in November looks certain to be the outstanding result of the season.
Sunderland, who failed in their bid for a place in the new Super League, will play in the second-tier national league next season – and will start as one of the favourites after their outstanding success in this campaign.