Gemma McGuinness’s finely-executed 14-minute hat-trick paved the way for AFC Bournemouth to maintain their 100 per cent winning start in the National League on Wednesday.
McGuinness took her personal goal tally for the season into double figures as the Cherries registered an emphatic 7-1 victory over fellow Division One South West promotion hopefuls Moneyfields.
Lucy Cooper netted twice on the eve of her 18th birthday, while skipper Gemma Hillier and a first goal of the season from defender Abby Jones completed the scoring at Ringwood’s Long Lane.
A seventh league win in succession saw the Cherries preserve their three-point lead at the top of the table with second-placed Exeter City beating Portishead 5-0 to make it six victories on the spin.
The result and performance capped an excellent day for Steve Cuss’s team after it was announced that more than 4,000 tickets had been sold for their Vitality Stadium clash against Portishead on Sunday 5th November.
Although Moneyfields made a promising start, Cooper opened the scoring in the sixth minute when she fastened on to Molly Barron-Clark’s defence-splitting pass before coolly slotting the ball past visiting goalkeeper Georgia Jenkins.
However, the lead was short-lived as Moneyfields levelled within 60 seconds, Hawaiian-born striker Kau’inohea Taylor giving Cherries goalkeeper Daniela Kosińska no chance as she rifled an effort into the roof of the net from just inside the 18-yard box.
Kosińska and Jenkins then traded top-drawer saves, the Cherries goalkeeper getting down smartly to smother an effort from Charley Wilson-Wilton before her opposite number denied McGuinness after the Irish forward had gone through one-on-one.
But there was no stopping McGuinness as the Cherries edged ahead in the 19th minute, the 28-year-old dispossessing a Moneyfields defender and outstripping her pursuers before calmly finding the back of the net.
Hillier was on hand to make it 3-1 just two minutes later, the skipper’s effort from just inside the 18-yard box deflecting off a defender after Amber Treweek had done well to recycle Barron-Clark’s free-kick.
Barron-Clark, who took her assist tally to nine after supplying the Cherries’ opening goal, went close to adding her second goal of the campaign when her delicate shot narrowly cleared the upright.
A speculative cross-shot from Olivia Venditto almost crept under the crossbar before McGuinness finished with aplomb to make it 4-1 after 32 minutes, the summer signing from Galway United latching on to Hillier’s pass and curling a delightful shot past Jenkins.
McGuinness, who combines playing for the Cherries with working as a performance nutritionist, feasted on her second hat-trick of the season when she rounded Jenkins and rolled the ball into an unguarded net after Alisha Buckingham had put her through just a minute later.
Cooper added her second and the Cherries’ sixth, the teenage striker applying an arrow-like finish past the outstretched hand of Jenkins after Jones had pressured a defender into presenting her with the ball nine minutes before half-time.
Kosińska made a superb reaction save to prevent Kim Whitcombe from reducing the arrears early in the second half before Jones capitalised on some hesitant defending to open her goal account for the season with a fine finish seven minutes after the break.
Moneyfields defended resolutely for the remainder of the second half to restrict the Cherries, although Jones perhaps should have hit the target after she had embarked on an electrifying run in the closing stages, the defender prodding her shot wide.
