Sophie Manzi scored a first-half hat-trick as Fulham FC Women returned to winning ways with an emphatic 8-0 victory over Enfield Town at Motspur Park this afternoon. Goals from Becky Stormer, Georgia Heasman, Madi Parsonson and Oliva Dale completed the rout for Steve Jaye’s side.
The Whites began brightly and could have been in front in the third minute. Sasha Adamson snuck into the penalty area and stabbed a loose ball past the goalkeeper, but her effort was brilliant scrambled off the line by an Enfield defender. Adamson did break the deadlock in the twelfth minute after a flowing passing move. Recalled club captain Mary Southgate began the attack, finding Lilly Lambird and the midfielder produced a peach of a pass to put Adamson in the clear before she lifted a clinical finish into the top corner.
Fulham went further in front thanks to a peach of an effort from Becky Stormer as the midfielder a 25-yarder into the top corner. Steve Jaye’s side took complete command of the contest when Manzi was cynically chopped down in the penalty area and the striker sent the Enfield goalkeeper the wrong way with the ensuing spot-kick. Stormer almost added a second of her own but she couldn’t quite wrap her foot around a clever ball from Madi Parsonson.
But the hosts added a third just two minutes later when Georgia Heasman nipped in to finish off from close range after the Enfield defence had crowded out Adamson in the box. It took just another two minutes for Manzi to poach her second of the afternoon – deftly diverting a pinpoint cross from Parsonson. The former Dulwich striker then completed a hat-trick with a venomous drive into the top corner from outside the box four minutes before half time.
Parsonson put her name on the scoresheet five minutes after the interval when she bent a finish around a surprised Enfield goalkeeper having cleverly worked a short corner with Lambird. Fulham’s substitutes then spurned chances to extend the lead as the lively Edie Buchele paid the penalty for a heavy touch having burst clear down the left wing. Another substitute Ava Huntrods headed over a corner from Parsonson before good play from Adamson created an opportunity for Lambird only for the midfielder’s shot to be well saved.
Defender Olivia Dale scored her first goal for Fulham with thirteen minutes remaining after bursting onto a brilliant ball by Adamson and firing into the far corner. The Whites’ intensity did drop in the closing stages as Enfield wilted in the autumnal sun, but Alex Hayman still created a good chance for Heasman with the winger stinging the palms of the visiting goalkeeper.
FULHAM FC WOMEN (3-4-3): Parker; Dale, Tagliavini, Southgate; Parsonson, Mendes, Stormer, Lambird; Heasman, Adamson, Manzi. Subs: Stratton, Bird, Huntrods, Hayman, Buchele.
GOALS: Adamson (12), Stormer (17), Manzi (pen 24, 34, 41), Heasman (32), Parsonson (50), Dale (77).
ENFIELD TOWN WOMEN: Murphy; Evans, Fowle, Holt, Husein, Littlechild, Lloyd, Obeng, Rodney, Sampson, Towler. Subs: Cann, Hanif, Racheva, Stewart, Swan.
REFEREE: Iain Bryant.
