Lewes celebrated their FA Women’s Championship debut with a comfortable 3-0 win over Millwall at Princes Park.

First-half strikes from Samantha Quayle, Rebecca Carter and Avilla Bergin secured a deserved win for John Donohue’s team.

Lewes are one of seven new sides to have been granted Championship licenses for this season, stepping up from the third tier.

In contrast, Millwall saw boss Lee Burch and several senior stars leave in the summer, with Chris Phillips now in charge and 22 new players recruited.

Lewes’ new era got off to the best possible start when Quayle bundled home from a corner after just two minutes with the ball adjudged to have just crossed the line.

The visitors doubled their lead when Carter raced onto a long ball forward and produced an exquisite finish into the far corner.

Millwall keeper Grace Taylor then did well to palm away another effort to stop Lewes grabbing a quickfire third.

Lewes centre-back Amy Taylor intervened with a stunning slide tackle to deny Millwall’s Evie Clarke who had broken clear.

The visitors continued to create the better chances and were rewarded just before half-time when Bergin latched onto a loose ball and fired it past Taylor.

The pattern continued in the second-half with the visitors pinning Millwall in their own half and Bergin almost catching out Taylor with a deft chip.

Carleton then burst through but had her effort well saved by Taylor.

Both teams tired as the second-half progressed, but Taylor was alert to deny Carleton again from range and keep the score down.

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LEETA RUTHERFORD, LEWES VICE CAPTAIN:

“We can’t want anything more than coming away with a win first day of the season.

“Millwall are not easy team to play against, they are a physical team, they are fit, so it’s a good three points for us.

“It’s been a lot of hard work behind the scenes to get here and we’ve got to give credit to everyone involved, along with the hard work we put in in training and on the pitch.

“We have come a long way and it’s proven worth it.

“They’re fit, they’ve got hunger, and they are physical.

“Today our physicality outshone what they had, we have a lot more experience in our team, we were very hard to break down.

“We’re very organized this season we’ve got a way we want to play but we can adapt when it suits us and to adapt to what they were trying to do.”

CHRIS PHILLIPS, MILLWALL MANAGER:

“The second-half we got better, which is what I can take away from the game. A few mistakes in the first-half cost us the first two goals.

“The third goal I thought was a well-worked goal, so I can give them credit for that, I thought we could have done better for the first two.

“In the second-half we improved, I felt our playing out was better, our retention of the ball was better and we created a couple of chances in the second half.

“The message at half-time was that we have to find ways to play. Teams will come and they will press us which is okay, but we have to find ways we can play around them.

“These girls are good when they play the game on the floor, so they have to show the courage.

“That’s what I spoke about, having that courage to play in those situations.”