Bradford City Women shot up to fourth in the league in style at the weekend, downing Nottingham Forest by a 6-0 scoreline.
There were braces for two of the front three, Laura Elford and Hannah Campbell, while Shauna Legge and Charlotte Stuart also got in and amongst the goals in Sunday’s free-for-all.
It was City from start to finish, as they pursued a third successive home victory. Elford was denied from close range with just seconds on the clock, and there was a great atmosphere and attitude from the hosts immediately, with real attacking aggression on show.
That was rewarded with eight minutes on the clock, and again just past the half hour mark.
Player of the Match Charlotte Stuart was everywhere in the game, particularly in the first half. She lifted the ball over the onrushing ‘keeper to break the deadlock, and then flicked it over a defender shortly afterwards to tee up Elford to double the lead.
But for all City’s dominance, Forest were still well in the game at half time. The score only read 2-0, and the visitors had got forward and posed problems at times.
Andrea Bell was central to all their positive play, including a disallowed goal less than 60 seconds after City’s opener.
Chelsie Stokes had been forced to sweep up several times, while the first 45 minutes ended with Legge putting her body on the line to block a goalbound effort.
Charlotte Oates had not had a noteworthy save to make in the home goal though, and the Bantams had created enough chance to have scored five or six.
To go in at the break then with the game still alive as a contest, was disappointing.
That feeling was clearly shared by the entire of City’s dressing room though, as they came out after the break looking to change the fact.
And Legge did that within five minutes of the restart. Abi Lee dropped off and picked the ball up again as she surged forward, eventually slotting her teammate through on goal to slide the ball under the ‘keeper.
Elford then made it four within a couple of minutes, throwing herself at Faye Boshell’s flick on to head in and complete her brace.
The game hadn’t even hit the hour mark yet, and the remaining time was suddenly merely a formality.
Campbell was happy to play the closing stages out though, finishing twice to add more realism to the scoreline.
Even 4-0 didn’t represent just how one-sided the game had been, and so the former Leeds forward adding a fifth and a sixth was more than fair.
Her first came under minimal pressure, Campbell allowed to drive into the area and pick out the top corner emphatically, while her second was a lovely team move late in the game.
City could have taken their foot off the gas, but they were enjoying their afternoon far too much.
The sixth and final goal was the perfect icing on another winning cake, coming all the way from Oates at the back.
The ‘keeper released the ball quickly to Chelsie Stokes, who drove forward from centre-half and found Ellie Olds in midfield. The former Forest Green player took time to assess her options, spotted the run of Campbell, and played a perfectly-weighted pass for her teammate to finish neatly and cap everything off.
A jump of three places is City’s reward, as they build on their high momentum ahead of clashes with the top two teams in the next couple of weeks.
Photos: George Wood
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