YORK City Ladies enjoyed a 3-2 North-East Women’s Regional League win over Whitley Bay thanks to goals from Lisa Bjornstad, Lauren Shuttleworth and Beth Clayton.

The success was their third in the league on the spin, taking them to second in the table, and should give them extra confidence ahead of this Sunday’s North Riding County FA Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough Lionesses.

Against Whitley Bay, Chloe Precious managed to save a one-on-one chance, with defender Josie Hewson clearing the danger after the York ’keeper had taken the sting out of the strike.

But Whitley went on to take the lead on 11 minutes from a corner and the Minster ladies still trailed 1-0 at the interval.

With just three minutes on the clock after the restart, though, a great strike from Jazz Whitwell struck the crossbar and landed at the feet of Norwegian Bjornstad, who calmly found the back of the net.

York then forged ahead on 68 minutes with girl-of-the-game Shuttleworth converting confidently after some great work by midfielder Clayton.

The latter went on to make it 3-1 four minutes later with a fantastic strike that flew straight into the top right-hand corner.

Whitley reduced the deficit with a soft second goal but the whole City team worked hard to stifle any further raids and hold out for a fully-deserved three points.