West Ham United Ladies 4-0 Plymouth Argyle Ladies
The Hammers romped to a fine home win against Plymouth Argyle on Sunday and kept their first clean sheet of the new season in the process.
An early Stacey Little goal, her first of the campaign, on 13 minutes settled the hosts down in difficult windy conditions at Thurrock, before three second-half strikes gave the scoreline a one-sided feel. Kelly Blanchflower struck twice before Gemma Shepherd kept up her run of registering in every match in the 2011/12 season.
In truth, after Little's excellent opener, Blanchflower and Shepherd could have scored before the interval. Visiting keeper Rebekah Kyle was in good form, though, to frustrate the home attackers. It was a different story after the break when Blanchflower converted after a flowing Hammers move on 53 minutes.
The same scorer made it 3-0 as the hour approached, just 60 seconds after having a previous effort ruled out for offside. The one that counted saw Blanchflower beat the offside trap with a well-timed run to side foot home her second.
With victory assured and only minutes remaining, Shepherd added a fourth when she collected the ball wide on the right edge of the Plymouth box. Without hesitating, she looked up and lobbed a high shot over the keeper and deep into the far corner of the net.
It was an excellent result and one that will give the Ladies great confidence after their 4-3 home defeat by Keynsham Town a week ago. They will next be in action when they head to Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.