The Valiants thumped Darlaston Town by six goals to extend their unbeaten league season
Three minutes into the match, Mollie Prime’s whipped cross into the path of Elissa Dockerty put her one-on-one with the keeper but her poked shot was wide of the right-hand post.
Two minutes later another great delivery from Prime reached her opposite wing-back, Anna O’Leary, at the back post with her header on target but the keeper was across quickly to push the ball away.
Prime’s in-swinging corner, in the 18th minute, came close to a Vale opener as it was met by captain Sian McHugh who rose highest but could not steer her header goalwards as it drifted agonisingly wide.
The deadlock was finally broken, after 24 minutes played, when Sophie Garratt drove into the box and skipped past a Darlaston defender before cutting the ball back to Olivia Grocott who fired the ball beyond the keeper.
A great opportunity to double the lead came before the half-hour mark as the ball fell to Tara Harrison in the 18-yard box and the keeper saved her first shot from close range before the ball fell in her path again but it was blocked off the line by a Darlaston player.
Before the break, Grocott had a vicious attempt from the left-hand side of the penalty area searching for the far right-hand corner of the uprights, but it flashed across the face of the goal.
Five minutes after the restart Erin Moreton-Powell’s shot off target almost caused trouble for the Darlaston keeper as it took a deflection that directed it back toward goal, but the keeper was alive to it and able to clear the ball.
Great control from Daisy Anderson-Wright to pluck the ball out the air set Vale on their way as the ball moved up the pitch and ended at Moreton-Powell’s feet in the box and her shot was saved before Grocott’s follow-up was blasted over the bar.
The Vale’s deserved second came, in the 67th minute, when Moreton-Powell received the ball back off Cassie Davies down the left flank and cut in on her right to pick out the top right-hand corner.
Ten minutes later Lucy Moss crossed the ball into the six-yard area where Harrison lifted the ball over the keeper into the back of the net.
The captain piled on the goals, in the 81st minute when Garratt’s dangerous corner found McHugh unmarked in the six-yard box and she made no mistake of the finish heading home for Vale’s fourth.
Four minutes from time, Moreton-Powell played in Grocott who turned her defender and chopped the ball onto her right boot before she smashed it past the Darlaston keeper from close range.
In the final moments of the game, McHugh received the ball off Harrison inside the box where she set the ball out on her right and curled the ball round the keeper to get the Valiant’s sixth of the afternoon.
The victory puts the Valiants within a point of league leaders AFC Telford United with two games in hand over them.
Port Vale | Connie Watts, Daisy Anderson-Wright, Jess Smith (87’ Mollie Prime), Naomi Sale-Hancock, Sian McHugh, Mollie Prime (46’ Cassie Davies), Sophie Garratt (87’ Anna O’Leary), Elissa Dockerty (72’ Tara Harrison), Tara Harrison (46’ Erin Moreton-Powell), Olivia Grocott, Anna O’Leary (46’ Lucy Moss).
Unused subs: Meg Baldwin
