Southampton are off the EHA Women's League Division 3 basement after a heartening 3-0 win over high flying Nottingham Highfield at the Sports Centre.

Cleaven Faulkner's side had been threatening to break a winless eight-match sequence - and they did it in style against a Nottingham side lying fourth in the league and the only team to have beaten leaders Bradford.

Anne Vickerstaff underlined Southampton's determination by battling her way through for the first goal - a situation that would have been improved but for a superb penalty flick save by the visitors keeper before the half-time break.

Concerned about some of Southampton's second-half displays of late, Faulkner produced a solid interval team talk. And it worked!

Southampton soaked up sustained Nottingham pressure and increased their lead through Sue Crowley after Bex Day had been fouled.

Jo Edmondson climaxed a Southampton super show when she collected the ball inside the 25m line and wrong footed the visitors keeper for the third.

Any joy Trojans derived from beating Doncaster 3-2 the previous week was wiped away by former Great Britain striker Tina Cullen, who scored the first five of Bowdon Hightown's goals in a 6-0 mauling on Deeside.

Cullen, who last played in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, notched a hat-trick inside 23 minutes and had all five of her goals in the bag five minutes into the second half.

Claire Fergusson rounded off Trojans afternoon of woe - one which the Stoneham girls will have to forget before Saturday's cellar-dweller crunch match with pointless Sutton Coldfield, who have lost all eight games.

Teenager Caroline Thorne took her goal tally for the season to 17 as Winchester trimmed newly promoted Hampshire Women's League, Division 1 rivals Fareham 3-1 at Henry Cort.

Undefeated in November, Winchester made light of fielding a weakened side and had the points wrapped up by half-time.

Thorne got Winchester off on the right foot with a 15th-minute goal from Jo Gault's cross.

Nicky Bamforth made it 2-0 from a penalty corner - the Winchester veteran's tenth goal of the autumn - while a fine undercut by Thorne completed the visitors' scoring before the break.

Fareham refused to go down without a fight. They clawed a goal back and might even have nicked a draw but for Gemma Blewett and two goalline saves.