Norwich City Women were victorious over league-leaders AFC Wimbledon Women in a Division One South East fixture that finished 2-0 at The Nest.
A first-half brace from Natasha Snelling was enough to secure the victory that closed the gap on the Dons at the top of the table.
Martin Herdman made two changes to his starting 11 from the FA Cup fixture against Boldmere St Michael's last week, bringing back Natasha Snelling and Hope Strauss.
The first 30 minutes were strongly dominated by the visitors, who had plenty of the ball going forward.
Wimbledon top-scorer Ashley Hinks took the first corner of the game, where she found Billie Brooks, who fired over from close range.
Brooks had the chance to put Wimbledon in front again just a minute later, but her close-range poke hit the crossbar and was cleared to safety.
Emily Donovan had the next attack, breaking down the left for the visitors but after a lovely flick forward, she couldn't find Hinks through on goal.
City were having to fight for possession but managed bursts of attacking spells, and Lauren Tomlinson managed to break away from a Wimbledon attack, muscling her way to get a cross towards Snelling, who couldn’t get a shot on target.
Sarah Quantrill made an excellent save to keep it at 0-0 when Hinks found space to shoot inside the box, but the Dons striker couldn’t beat the City stopper.
Snelling made an inviting cross to Ellie Smith charging towards the box, but Faye Baker in goal collected before the number nine could make contact.
The City duo were rewarded a minute later, when Smith provided for Snelling in the box, who fired home to make it 1-0 after 31 minutes.
Carrying an injury, Smith was substituted for Rachel Lawrence on the restart.
Strauss was later forced into making a goal-line clearance after Quantrill let the ball pass her in the box.
Five minutes before the break, Tomlinson made a terrific run down the left, only to meet the hands of Baker on the end of her cross into the box.
With 41 minutes on the clock, Snelling doubled the Canaries' lead with a lovely finish in front of goal, thanks to substitute Lawrence’s cross in.
The visitors kicked off the second half with as much fight as the first, pressing City as high as they could.
Lawrence had a shot goalward from Larkins' corner but fired straight at Baker between the sticks.
Wimbledon picked up the pace just before the hour mark, with Quantrill batting away two powerful shots from the right side in consecutive minutes.
Hinks, who was on set-piece duty, fired a free-kick on target but found only the hands of Quantrill at 55 minutes.
Wimbledon were awarded a second free-kick moments later, but this time Hinks' effort couldn't break through the City wall.
The Dons had their best chance of the half with a powerful shot down the middle on 65 minutes, but the ball was blocked and cleared by Ceri Flye.
The best chance for Norwich in the second half created by Lawrence found Snelling through on goal, but the striker couldn’t beat the hands of Baker to cap off her hat-trick.
With five minutes to go, Freya Symonds got a cross in from the right and Baker was forced to parry the ball away before Snelling could pounce in the box.
The dying minutes saw most of the action in the City box, but the visitors couldn't capitalise on their attacks, and the Canaries went away with all three points.
Norwich are not in action next weekend and will be back at The Nest on Sunday, December 17.
Norwich City Women: Quantrill; Strauss, Flye, Larkins (C); Tomlinson, Knights, Parker; Smith (Lawrence 33 (Hailes 90+3)), Todd (Symonds 71), Snelling (Daviss 86)
Subs not used: Shaw
Bookings: Symonds (90+5)
Goals: Snelling (31, 41)
AFC Wimbledon Women: Baker, Russell, Highman, Ali, Hinks, Gibson, Donovan, Billingham (c), Dorey Goddard
Bookings: Billingham (39)
Attendance: 320