Bradford City defeated Guiseley Vixens 5-1 for the second time this season on Tuesday evening at Nethermoor.
Having overcome them by the same scoreline in the reverse fixture last month, the Bantams were keen to do the double over their local rivals and succeeded in emphatic fashion.
Shauna Legge opened the scoring after only nine minutes with a strong header, and she doubled hers and her team’s tally for the day on 36 minutes from a corner.
Guiseley halved the deficit just before the break, but Bradford never looked in danger of surrendering their lead, Hannah Campbell bagging her sixth goal in four games to res-establish that two goal cushion midway through the second half.
Late on, Sarah Danby wrapped things up with a powerful strike, whilst Faye Boshell put the icing on the cake with an 86th minute header to round off the Bantams’ fourth successive win in all competitions.
City started well and were on the attack as early as the fourth minute, Olivia Thackray pouncing on the rebound of Campbell’s blocked shot, forcing a good save out of the Guiseley goalkeeper.
They were ahead five minutes later too, ex-Vixen Legge biting the hand that once fed her with a ninth minute header.
Legge made the switch to Bradford midway through last season, and this was her second goal this campaign against her former side, Danby providing the cross for her to nod home.
She was keen to add to her tally too, firing a shot over the bar shortly afterwards, or at least to her side’s, delivering a great cross from the right before the 20 minute mark, only for Thackray’s shot to stray wide of the mark.
With the visitors dominating possession, Guiseley looked to play on the counter, and they could have done so to devastating effect, getting in behind City’s back line twice at the half’s midway point, but their eventual efforts were off target on both occasions.
With just less than 10 minutes remaining in the first half though, Legge made it two for the day, City playing a corner short before the winger capitalised on some confusion in a goal-mouth scramble to prod home.
Still, Guiseley kept themselves in the game before half time, beating the Bantams to the second ball in midfield and finding the top corner from 30 yards out to narrow the score to 2-1 at the break.
This just spurred City on though, with them keen to extend their lead in the second half when Campbell raced through one-on-one with the ‘keeper within a minute of the restart, only to see her goal-bound strike blocked and cleared on the line by a defender.
Guiseley continued to try their luck from range, unable to really get much closer to goal, but saw their efforts either fly wide or straight at City’s Chloe Precious.
Instead, it was the visitors dominating as Katie Nutter fired over and Legge, searching for a hat-trick, was thwarted by the Vixens’ stopper.
Campbell, in sensational goal-scoring form coming into the game, continued to see chances come her way, Danby finding her with a nice through ball in the 68th minute, but the striker couldn’t hit the target as her shot went wide.
However, she would finally get her goal just a minute later, substitute Abi Lee this time with the pass which she was able to finish coolly to give City some breathing space in the game.
This relaxed the Bantams and allowed them to play with a lot of freedom in the final 20 minutes - Danby, Lee and Campbell combining shortly after as the latter was denied by the ‘keeper.
The fourth of the day for City came with six minutes to play instead, substitute Rosie McDonnell’s great work on the left resulting her in picking out Danby, who smashed her shot off the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net in emphatic style.
The scoring was concluded two minutes later, Boshell getting forward from the back to powerfully head home from a corner and make it five again for the Bantams against Guiseley.
Bradford are now up to sixth in the table, with a game in hand over second placed Derby County and third placed Nottingham Forest, and on a run of four successive wins as they prepare to welcome Battyeford on Sunday in the County Cup.
City are looking to defend the trophy for the second year running and win it for the third year in a row.
