Sunderland Ladies overturned their recent loss of league form as they blasted Aston Villa Ladies apart.
The Lady Black Cats rattled home ELEVEN goals without reply on a sunny afternoon at the Hetton Centre on Sunday. Early efforts from Jordan Nobbs and Sophie Williams signalled their intention before a perfect quick fire hat trick inside 3 minutes from Natalie Gutteridge left the home side in complete control. Lucy Staniforth broke down the right to cross for Gutteridge to stretch and score from close in with her left foot. A minute later it was two, Williams chased down the left and crossed for Gutteridge to head towards goal but Nicola Kuch saved only for Gutteridge to hit home the rebound with her right foot. Her third came in the 13th minute following a right wing corner from Demi Stokes as Gutteridge rose high above the defence to power her header into goal.
Not to be outdone, on the half hour, strike partner Sophie Williams then fired home a hat trick in seven minutes. Gemma Wilson won
the ball and played it forward for Kelly McDougall to release Williams through the middle. As keeper Kuch came out Williams slotted
the ball underneath her. On 32 minutes Nobbs split the defence and Williams got the ball ahead of Vaughan to run on and slide it into
the net. Then on 37 minutes great work through the middle between Nobbs and McDougall set Williams away to round the keeper
and walk the ball home for an emphatic interval lead. HT... Sunderland Ladies 6 vs 0 Aston Villa Ladies
There was
no let up as the second half began with Williams going close and a Wilson Header cleared off the line. The Wearsiders scored again
on 50 minutes following a strong forward run by Lucy Bronze who played in Gutteridge to tee up a McDougall strike from the edge of
the box which thundered into the net. As Sunderland peppered the Villa goal Keeper Kuch kept out fine efforts from McDougall, Williams
and Bronze before the eighth goal arrived on 66 minutes. Bronze and Nobbs combined on the right to set Williams away to cross for
Gutteridge to strike home from close in. Then on 70 minutes a patient build up from the back saw Nobbs release Williams to strike
for goal and although Kuch saved, Williams pounced to push home the rebound. Two minutes later Staniforth and Bronze linked
well to free McDougall who drew the keeper before perfectly lobbing the ball into goal from just outside the box. Villa’s first effort
on goal saw a long range strike from Emma Follis come back off the bar before Sunderland completed the scoring after 74 minutes. Williams
chased the ball through the middle and although Keeper Kuch got there first her clearance struck Williams and broke for Nobbs to brilliantly
drive home from 25 yards. FT...Sunderland Ladies 11 vs 0 Aston Villa Ladies
Sunderland...Alderson, Bronze,
Bannon, Wilson, Greenwell, Staniforth(O’Brien), Nobbs, McDougall, Stokes(Devine), Gutteridge, Williams(Danby). Subs (not used)
Laws, Holmes, Halliday.
Boss Mick Mulhern spoke after the game....”It was an excellent team performance. We have had a slight
blip lately and maybe one or two have had an eye on the cup final. I asked for a response today, to give the sort of performance that
has got us where we are. Every player responded positively and we were fantastic.”