Durham suffered a 3-1 defeat to Yeovil Town Ladies after two goals from Sarah Wiltshire and a strike from Ellie Cursons where enough to seal all three points for the home side.
It was Ness who opened the scoring on 26 minutes, bursting through the home side’s defence to slot the ball past Simkins.
Sarah Wiltshire levelled the score for Yeovil after a goalmouth scramble saw the striker poke the ball into the back of the net before adding her second in the final minutes of the match.
The opening stages of the game saw Yeovil come out fighting, creating a number of chances through their midfielder Helen Bleazard.
Strong defending by Sarah Wilson and Jen King kept the Yeovil attacks at bay but their best opportunity came after capitalising on a poor back pass by Ellie Christon.
The defender’s pass did not have enough to find its way back to Danielle Hill and allowed striker Sarah Wiltshire to run through on goal, only to be denied by Hill in the Durham game.
As the half wore on Durham grew into the game and almost found themselves in the lead after Emily Scott thread the ball through to Yas Hardy. As it looked like the youngster was about to shoot a last ditch tackle stopped the ball finding its way to her feet.
Just a few minutes later Ness’ shot from distance caused trouble for Rachel Simkin in the Yeovil goal as the ball bounced up as she went to save it.
The Wildcats deservedly took the lead after a sustained period of pressure just before the half hour mark. Emily Scott found Beth Hepple who drove the ball forward to slot it through the middle of Yeovil’s defence.
Ness found space in behind to make her run and stroke the ball into the back of the net to give Durham the lead.
Just a few minutes later it was the home side who found themselves on the scoresheet after Wiltshire passed the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-1.
There were strong protests from the Durham side who felt that in the build-up to the goal that they had been fouled but despite the referee waved away their continued protests.
Half-time and it was 1-1 between the two sides.
The second half almost saw Atkinson latch onto a long ball from Jess Round but it was Yeovil who continued to find a way to stop Durham’s attacks.
Yeovil continued to press and took the lead 10 minutes after half-time when Ellie Curson’s shot went into the back of the net.
Atkinson was having plenty of opportunity down the right-hand side and after turning several defenders struck a shot that was saved by Simkin.
Despite the setback, Durham continued to press and their best chance of the second half came through midfielder Emily Scott. Scott attacked down the right-hand side, shimmying and turning Bleazard before unleashing a ferocious shot that rocketed the underside of the crossbar.
As the ball fell into the penalty box, the Wildcats tried to bundle the ball home and there were strong appeals from the away side for handball. The referee waved away Durham’s appeals once again.
It was Wiltshire who scored the last and final goal after taking advantage of a loose ball to send in past Hill to seal all three points for Yeovil.