Moneyfields Women overcame pre-match torrential rain to maintain a 100% start to the season with a 6-1 victory over Portishead Town at Cams Alders.
Moneys flew out of the traps and found the back of the net within two minutes through captain Charley Wilson-Wilton. Gemma Simmonds outside of the foot through ball dissected the Portishead right-back and centre-back, Rozalia Sitarz got on the end of the pass and crossed first time for Wilson-Wilton to tap home from close range.
Sitarz and Kiera Heslam continued to have success on the left-hand side and in the twelfth minute the latter found Kim Fuller at the near post and she made no mistake to make it 2-0 and score her first goal of the season.
Ten minutes later the game was effectively put to bed as a contest when Wilson-Wilton scored her sixth goal of the season from a Kau’inohea Taylor cross to the back post.
Moneys stretched their lead in the thirty-first minute. Gemma Simmonds was given too much space and was allowed to walk the ball from her own half, all the way into the Portishead box. Simmonds’ back heel was picked up by Sitarz, she then picked out Fuller at the far post, she made no mistake with a powerful left-footed finish into the top-left corner of the goal.
Things went from bad to worse for our visitors when Moneys were awarded a penalty after a harsh penalty for a handball. Fuller was given the opportunity to secure a hat-trick and she made no mistake from twelve yards, finding the bottom left-hand corner of the goal.
As the players returned for the second half the grey rain clouds that had been replaced with pockets of blue sky.
The only blot on the day was being denied a clean sheet. After some smart work in the middle by Portisheads’ Amy Clark to find Shannon Holloway in acres of space as she broke into the Moneys half to finish passed Georgia Jenkins.
In the sixty-eighth minute, second half substitute Chelsie Hay scored her sixth goal of the season to provide Moneys with a five-goal cushion. Beth Burgess dispossessed the Portishead player on the right wing and then surged forward, her cross from the byline was missed by the keeper and two defenders for a grateful Hay to score at the far post.
In the dying stages of the game, Hay thought that she’d grabbed her second of the game from another Burgess cross but was denied thanks to a smart save by Ameliah Yarwood in the Portishead goal.
The result moves Moneys up into third place in the division, three points off AFC Bournemouth in top but with a game in hand. Things are set up beautifully for next week’s visit to title-chasing Exeter City, a game that will be played at St James’ Park, the home of their men’s side.
Moneys: Georgia Jenkins, Lucy Nightingale (Sharna Capel-Watson), Kirsty Pearce, Bekah Tonks (Amber Howden), Rozalia Sitarz (Beth Burgess), Gemma Simmonds, Megan Fox, Charley Wilson-Wilton (Chelsie Hay), Kim Fuller
