Harrogate Railway Ladies had an emphatic win today beating Brighouse 6-0, on a pitch that was very heavy due to the rain, Railway were wanting no less than six points today and to have pay back from their 2-1 defeat in September. Rails back four yet again proved to be a hard group to beat and with Rails keeper on top form Brighouse were always going to find it hard to score. The first half was quite well balanced for both teams but only railway came close to scoring when Jodi Hodgson hit the cross bar after 20 minutes, Rachel McDonald was again a force to recon with in midfield winning tackle after tackle. It wasn’t until the 41st minute when skipper Ali Purvis switched the play from right to left where Nicola Hadley played in to the middle for Chloe Elphick to drive in a thunderous shot from 24 yards out 0-1.
The second half saw a calamity of bad calls from the referee, however Railway got stuck in and on 52 minutes Chloe crossed in and Nicola latched on to the ball with a sweet side foot into the left corner 0-2, Brighouse were quick to respond to this and straight away forced a finger tip save from Charlotte Donnelly. Railway found their rhythm and after 5 short quick passes and a great run from left back Emma Lansdall she put the ball past the Brighouse keeper, 0-3.
Brighouse seemed to implode after some bad calls from the referee and Railway took advantage with Nicola scoring her 2nd to make it 0-4 after 60 minutes and again getting her hatrick 4 minutes after that with a great header to make it 0-5. Railway Ladies were in complete control of the game now passing the ball around the park, Louise Donnelly bagged her first goal in 4 years receiving a pass from midfield and beating the keeper, 0-6.
Another fine team display from the Railway Ladies, next weeks game is postponed due to the opposition being in the county cup.
