That winning feeling was back as Charlton Women beat Sunderland 1-0 at a blustery Valley.
Amelie Thestrup scored the only goal of the game with an acrobatic finish in the 36th minute, which saw the Addicks over the line and bag the three points.
The game started brightly for Charlton, with a lovely move by Mary McAteer freeing up Amelie Thestrup for the first chance of the game, but she rushed her left-footed shot that went past the near post.
From there, it was a first half of half-chances. Mary McAteer had a shot that was quickly closed down in the box from a promising position, and the same fate befell Jodie Hutton when she connected with a driven cross on the edge of the six.
Sunderland did have periods when they held onto possession, but their most dangerous chances came from corners, with one, in particular, falling in the box, but luckily, no one was there.
The deadlock was finally broken after 36 minutes when a corner from the left, taken by Katie Bradley, was flicked on at the near post by Elish N’Dow. It found Amelie Thestrup in the box, back to goal, and she acrobatically finished, putting the Addicks in the lead.
That was Thestrup’s first since a hat-trick against Swindon in the FA Cup in January, and her first in the league since November against Southampton.
Sunderland had the first real chance of the second half when Mared Griffiths was found free in the box, running onto a header, which cannoned back off the post. Sunderland kept the pressure up but could not find that equaliser.
There were several fouls from both sides in the middle of the second half that stalled any momentum in the game. In the 76th minute, Sunderland were reduced to 10 as Lousie Griffiths got a second yellow, for a second foul on Siber, and that, in theory, should have taken some pressure off the Addicks.
Yet Sunderland kept coming, to their credit, and forced the Addicks to defend, but they dealt with anything that came their way. The game finally finished 1-0, and Charlton sent The Valley crowd home happy.
Charlton Athletic: Whitehouse, N’Dow (Lobato 69), Mason, Skeels, Siber, Bradley, Flannery, Hutton (Lockwood 69), Fitzgerald, Thestrup (Kenney 54), McActeer (Muya 69)
Subs (not used): Pedersen, Newsham, Ross, Pearse, Bissell
Goals: Thestrup 36
Booked: Thestrup 50 (pulling down Fenton), N’Dow 61 (pulling down Scarr), Fitzgerald 85 (foul on Brown)
Sunderland: Lambourne, Roberts, L Griffiths, Watson (Kitching 68), Scarr (Finn 90), Dale, Fenton (Brown 78), Sheva, Hamilton, M Griffiths (Blades 90), Westrup
Subs (not used): Greenwood, McInnes, Jones, Paxton, Blench
Goals:
Booked: L Griffiths 17, 76 (foul on Siber, foul on Siber), Sheva 58 (pulling down Hutton)
Attendance: 639
Referee: Julia Kings
