YORK City Ladies fell to a 1-0 defeat away at Durham Cestria as their hosts moved to the top of the FA Women’s National League division one north.

Ellen Turnbull’s second-half effort was enough to separate the two sides in a closely-fought contest.

Jess Holder and Elisha Hardcastle returned to the team after illness kept them both absent in York’s latest outing.

Holly Findlay, who has returned to the club after a loan spell at Barnsley, was named to the bench as Anna Bowman was given her City debut.

It was Durham that started the game as the better of the two sides, with only a vital intervention from Jess Heald preventing them from scoring just minutes into the match.

From the block, the Minsterbelles looked to create as Milly Ash played Holder through on goal.

She hit the target with a shot, but saw it well blocked by the Durham goalkeeper.

The early stages of the match saw both teams look to open the scoring, with Becky Sidwell called into action to deny Jordan Atkinson’s effort.

Just minutes later, Sidwell was at full stretch to maintain York’s clean sheet.

Durham came within inches of scoring when a well-struck half-volley from Atkinson thrashed against the crossbar.

Despite their best efforts, Cestria were unsuccessful in breaching a City backline that, though increasingly threatened, looked increasingly stable.

The second half started with a much slower pace than the first, though it would be Durham to open the scoring.

Just before the hour mark, a brilliant cross from Atkinson found Turnbull who tapped a shot beyond Sidwell from inside the six-yard box.

Though York searched for an equaliser, they could not find one and fell to a one-goal defeat.

Next up for the Minsterbelles is a home clash against Barnsley on Sunday, December 4 (2pm).