Chesterfield Ladies stormed their way into the next round of the Derbyshire Women's County Cup on Sunday afternoon as they demolished Hilton Harriers Ladies 14-0 away from home.
A hat-trick from Georgina Williams, braces from Maddi Frances-Creaser, Gina Camfield, Hannah Baker and Millie Standen plus goals from Amy Townsend, Chloe Phillips and Emma Young sealed an enormous victory for Mike Noon's side in the first round of the competition.
The afternoon was always going to be a very tough one for Hilton Harriers Ladies. Hilton play several tiers below Chesterfield Ladies in Division Two of the Derbyshire Girls & Ladies League and also had a number of players unavailable for Sunday's cup tie.
The Blues launched off the starting blocks and found themselves 2-0 up after only seven minutes played. Top goal scorer Georgina Williams confidently slotted home from ten yards out to give Chesterfield Ladies the lead in the third minute. Maddi Frances-Creaser then poked the ball into the back of the net just four minutes later to double their advantage.
The visitors came extremely close to extending their lead just after the quarter of an hour mark. Firstly, Williams's long range effort whistled just past the post before Millie Jebb-Geer saw her header from a corner tipped onto the bar by the Hilton goalkeeper. The third goal soon arrived though as Frances-Creaser smashed the ball home from 12 yards out after being given too much time and space by the Harriers defence.
Gina Camfield blazed the ball over the bar in the 33rd minute when she really should have hit the target; however, the forward soon made amends and drilled the ball home from close range to make it 4-0 after 41 minutes. On the stroke of half-time, the Harriers defence failed to close Williams down which allowed her to power her way past a number of opponents into the penalty area before easily stroking the ball home to add a fifth for Chesterfield Ladies just before the interval.
You could be forgiven for thinking the Blues would have stepped off the gas in the second half but Mike Noon's side were having none of it and proved to be even more ruthless after the interval.
Within five minutes of the re-start, the Blues had already added two more goals to their tally. Hannah Baker scored her first goal of the game from eight yards out in the 47th minute before Georgina Willams eventually secured her hat-trick after the Hilton goalkeeper initially made two good saves from a couple of close-range attempts in the 50th minute.
Three minutes later, Gina Camfield bagged her second goal of the game when she calmly wrong-footed the Harriers goalkeeper with no defenders around her to make it 8-0. A ninth soon followed when full-back Amy Townsend got in on the act. Was it a cross or was it a shot? We're still not 100% sure but, either way, Townsend's left-footed effort from the flank sailed over the Hilton goalkeeper's head and into the back of the net. The Blues then reached double figures just after the hour mark when Chloe Phillips scored her first goal of the season for the senior team.
The final 15 minutes saw four more goals for Chesterfield Ladies in a devastating display of pressing football against visibly tiring opposition. Millie Standen came off the bench and launched a rocket of an effort from 15 yards out to make it 11-0. Emma Young then scored her first goal of the season soon afterwards to make it 12. Young had seen several attempts saved by the Harriers goalkeeper almost immediately after coming on as a second half substitute and also had a tap-in goal ruled out for offside. However, Young's persistence was rewarded when fellow substitute Steph Warren teed her up and Young found the back of the net with a well-placed finish from around 15 yards out.
In the final five minutes of the game, Millie Standen blitzed her way through the opposition's defence to hammer the ball home for 13-0 before a through ball in the last minute of the game put Hannah Baker clean through on goal and she eventually found the back of the net following some stern resistance from the Hilton goalkeeper.
Attention now turns to next Sunday when Chesterfield Ladies will undoubtedly face a much sterner test. Mike Noon's side will play Wem Town Ladies (who play one tier above the Blues) away from home in the third and final qualifying round of the Women's FA Cup. If Chesterfield Ladies were to win, it would be the first time in 12 years that the club will have reached the first round proper of the competition.
Chesterfield Ladies team: Naylor, Everley, Townsend, Jebb-Geer, Anderson, Pascoe, Frances-Creaser, Phillips, Baker, Williams, Camfield. Used subs: Warren, Fidler, Standen, Young.
Mike Noon Quotes:
"It's great to win the game - the priority was to reach the next round. It was good today to give some players time on the pitch who haven't been playing a lot lately. All of those players have done themselves proud today. It was a good performance by the whole squad today and it's given us an opportunity to rest some other players as well. This competition probably needs looking at a little bit. It could do with being seeded so that teams get a fair shot at this competition."
"We set ourselves some challenges before the start of the game. The players achieved that. We set some more challenges at half-time and we almost achieved all of those in the second half. You've got to utilise this kind of game to achieve more than just scoring lots of goals."
"The challenges we set were regarding our standards - so when we didn't have the ball, we talked a lot about being able to win the ball back quickly. Then when we did have the ball, it was about making the right decisions with it. It was a good performance overall and we look forward to next weekend where we face a very different challenge in the FA Cup against Wem Town Ladies."
"Looking at how our own season is going so far and looking at how Wem Town's season has been going, it should be a good game. We're at the top end of our table and they're around mid-table in their league, so I'd like to think we can go to their place and compete with them. If we can go there and give a good account of themselves and they have an off day, then we've got a chance. We did really well in the previous qualifying round to give us this chance next weekend. Qualifying for the first round proper would be a fantastic achievement. So that's the aim; we give a good account of ourselves and we go for the win which would be brilliant for everyone involved at the club."
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