A buoyant University of Gloucestershire hosted Cardiff Women yesterday, looking to bounce back from last weeks 2-0 loss to fellow Welsh side and title rivals Swansea.
Lauren Phillips was the headline act, opening the scoring just before the half-hour mark, with a solo goal, dribbling around three defenders before slotting calmly past the goalkeeper.
Katie Searle scored her first of the game with a cute finish from the edge of the box, with Darcy Young pouncing on a goalkeeping error to make the score 3-0, all but winning the match.
Searle got her second, volleying smartly over the goalkeeper, when wrapping up her hat-trick with a shot into the corner of the net. All goals unstoppable for the helpless Cardiff ‘keeper.
The visitors were able to get a late consolation to get on the scoreboard but it was the smallest of minor victories as only minutes later Glos restored their five goal margin with a goal from Emily Petteford from close range.

After the match, Gloucestershire coach Ben Ware gave his reaction.
“It was good to get back to winning ways. Last week was a disappointing loss to our title rival, which left us all frustrated, but the cup is always a great opportunity to get back on track.
“It was a 6-1 game really. Cardiff played better than the score-line gives them credit for. They defended well and held us back but a bit of Lauren Phillips magic got us through and opened the scoring which saw us grab six.
“A clean sheet would have been ideal. They got through once and scored. It was a great finish and Hope, who’s our second keeper and had to step up, did well to get a hand to it but no one was stopping it.
“In the end it was a good result and good for morale. Overall we’re happy with it and happy to be in the next round.”
UOG Womens second team also played last night, losing to UWE
On the second team’s 5-1 defeat to UWE, Ware commented: “The girls were awesome again, playing against a team that are a few leagues higher. The score reflects this, but the game play did not. The girls held their own, and battled hard.
Emily Knight was Player of the Match. She played an amazing game keeping their rapid number seven at bay. If the opposition didn’t have this player, then the score could have been much different.”