SHEFFIELD SHOOT TO ANOTHER TITLE
Sheffield continued their remarkable upward trajectory to win the 2012-13 Northern Division, their third title triumph in four years.
Having won the Yorkshire and Humberside League in 2009-10, they took the Northern Combination title in the following season and then in 2011-12 finished runners-up to Manchester City in their first FAWPL Northern Division campaign.
With City promoted to the League’s top flight for 2012-13, Sheffield went into the Northern Division season with confidence high and among the favourites to take the title.
But though they did indeed win the division, and with a nine point gap between themselves and runners-up Nottingham Forest, they did not make absolutely certain of finishing at the top of the table until their very last game of the season.
Forest had kept doggedly in the title fight, not matching Sheffield’s great start of eight straight victories but staying in their slipstream and drawing to within a point of them - and with a game in hand - as the run-in to the end of the season began.
Sheffield had gone through their only blip of the campaign, taking just five points from a four-game sequence that ended with their only defeat - a 3-1 loss at Blackburn Rovers.
But they bounced back with perfect timing as they faced Forest twice in a week. A Forest double would have put them in the box seat to take the title. But instead Sheffield won each game, 2-0 away and 2-1 at home, to conclude their 16-match schedule on a triumphant note.
If they had lost that final encounter with Forest, who by now had two games in hand, then their title rivals could have drawn level on points at the top - but Sheffield’s far superior goal difference meant that that was a highly unlikely end-of-season scenario.
Disappointed Forest went on to win their last two games to at least finish second in the table, two points clear of third place Blackburn.
Sheffield’s reward for winning the Northern Division was not promotion in the traditional method of the Women’s pyramid, whose structure was being revised due to the introduction of the WSL2 as the second tier and a newly constituted third tier split into Northern Premier and Southern Premier Divisions.
The Northern Premier was to consist of 11 teams, two more than in 2012-13, but an increasingly powerful Sheffield side were to take the change comfortably in their stride…
FINAL TABLE
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sheffield | 16 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 46 | 16 | 41 | 30 |
| 2 | Nottingham Forest | 16 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 35 | 22 | 32 | 13 |
| 3 | Blackburn Rovers | 16 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 25 | 30 | 10 |
| 4 | West Bromwich Albion | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 40 | 24 | 27 | 16 |
| 5 | Preston North End | 16 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 29 | 27 | 25 | 2 |
| 6 | Newcastle United | 16 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 31 | 39 | 20 | -8 |
| 7 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 16 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 20 | 40 | 16 | -20 |
| 8 | Derby County | 16 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 28 | 43 | 12 | -15 |
| 9 | Leicester City | 16 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 14 | 42 | 4 | -28 |
RESULTS
19/8/2012
Preston North End 3-2 Derby County
Nottingham Forest 2-3 Newcastle United
West Bromwich Albion 2-4 Sheffield
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Blackburn Rovers
26/8/2012
Blackburn Rovers 2-0 Leicester City
Derby County 2-3 West Bromwich Albion
Newcastle United 5-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
9/9/2012
Preston North End 4-4 Blackburn Rovers
Leicester City 0-4 Derby County
West Bromwich Albion 6-0 Newcastle United
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-3 Sheffield
16/9/2012
Derby County 1-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Leicester City 2-5 Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest 3-2 Blackburn Rovers
Sheffield 2-0 Preston North End
30/9/2012
Preston North End 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Newcastle United 0-4 Sheffield
West Bromwich Albion 2-4 Leicester City
7/10/2012
Derby County 2-3 Blackburn Rovers
Preston North End 3-0 Newcastle United
Leicester City 0-3 Nottingham Forest
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-4 West Bromwich Albion
21/10/2012
Newcastle United 2-4 Derby County
Nottingham Forest 3-2 West Bromwich Albion
28/10/2012
Nottingham Forest 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Sheffield 2-1 Leicester City
West Bromwich Albion 0-1 Preston North End
11/11/2012
Derby County 0-4 Sheffield
Preston North End 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 Leicester City
18/11/2012
Newcastle United 2-3 Nottingham Forest
13/1/2013
Newcastle United 2-0 Preston North End
17/2/2013
Blackburn Rovers 1-1 Newcastle United
24/2/2013
Sheffield 3-1 Derby County
3/3/2013
Blackburn Rovers 1-3 Nottingham Forest
Derby County 2-1 Leicester City
Sheffield 3-0 West Bromwich Albion
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 Preston North End
10/3/2013
Preston North End 2-2 Sheffield
West Bromwich Albion 4-2 Derby County
31/3/2013
Blackburn Rovers 5-1 Derby County
Preston North End 2-2 Leicester City
Newcastle United 1-4 West Bromwich Albion
7/4/2013
Leicester City 0-3 West Bromwich Albion
Nottingham Forest 3-2 Preston North End
Sheffield 4-0 Blackburn Rovers
Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Newcastle United
14/4/2013
Leicester City 0-3 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Nottingham Forest 3-0 Derby County
Sheffield 3-3 Newcastle United
West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Blackburn Rovers
21/4/2013
Blackburn Rovers 3-1 Sheffield
Preston North End 3-3 West Bromwich Albion
Newcastle United 5-1 Leicester City
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-4 Nottingham Forest
24/4/2013
Blackburn Rovers 2-1 Preston North End
28/4/2013
Derby County 3-1 Newcastle United
Leicester City 1-2 Blackburn Rovers
Sheffield 5-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
West Bromwich Albion 0-0 Nottingham Forest
1/5/2013
West Bromwich Albion 4-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
2/5/2013
Nottingham Forest 0-2 Sheffield
5/5/2013
Blackburn Rovers 4-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Derby County 1-2 Preston North End
Leicester City 0-2 Sheffield
7/5/2013
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 Derby County
8/5/2013
Sheffield 2-1 Nottingham Forest
12/5/2013
Newcastle United 0-2 Blackburn Rovers
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Leicester City
15/5/2013
Derby County 1-4 Nottingham Forest
16/5/2013
Blackburn Rovers 0-2 West Bromwich Albion
19/5/2013
Leicester City 1-2 Preston North End
