Sheffield FC battled to a 1-0 victory over Portsmouth on Sunday afternoon to earn promotion to the Women’s Super League.
The play-off fixture saw the Northern champions play the Southern title winners in a replay of this year’s WPL Cup semi final which Sheffield won 2-0 after goals from Jodie Michalska and Emma Johnson.
This time round Lisa Giampalma was the hero – scoring a stoppage time winner which confirmed her side as the new addition to next year’s WSL 2.
This was the first year a team from the Women’s Premier League could earn the right to move up in to the top tier of the women’s game in England, but Sheffield will still need to meet FA licence requirements before they can officially call themselves a WSL team.
The game itself was action-packed with chances for both teams, although eventual winners Sheffield did see the majority of possession particularly in the second half.
The Yorkshire side will hope their promotion will help them keep hold of young talent Michalska who could have broke the deadlock several times earlier in the game after causing Portsmouth problems all afternoon.
As the final whistle blew, the elation was evident for the play-off winners, who have been the Northern Division champions the past 3 years but have now finally earned their shot at the big time.
