Ladies 3s hit Cleckheaton for 6!

Halifax started brightly and applied pressure from the off against their more highly placed opponents.

Their efforts were quickly rewarded with a short corner which was slipped to Beth Smith who slotted home with a strong sweep.

Another short corner resulted in Smith’s second goal inside ten minutes when Margaret Bottomley struck a hard first shot which hit the left post and rebounded to Smith who reacted quickly to outwit the Cleckheaton defence.

Halifax began to dominate the middle of the pitch with Cara James particularly influential in midfield and they enjoyed a lot of possession, resulting in wave after wave of attack.

After Elin Ha was released on the left and shot from the angle a deft touch by Bottomley in front of goal pulled the ball away from the keeper and found Sara Woodhead well positioned to take advantage and extend the lead.

Woodhead also bagged a brace when Sharon Crawshaw stepped forward from defence and drove the ball into the Cleckheaton circle. The resulting rebound from the keeper was picked up by Woodhead who wasted no time to make the half time score 4-0.

Cleckheaton battled well after half time and despite Halifax continuing to enjoy the lions share of possession they did not add to the score line until midway through the second half.

Elin Ha scored Halifax’s fifth after the Cleckheaton keeper had saved well at full stretch, flicking the ball over her into the net.

Nicola Boulton was unlucky not to score when she broke into the circle, beating the keeper but a defender took the ball out of the air beautifully as it looked destined to end up in the net.

Margaret Bottomley added the final goal after a solo run, beating the defenders on the top of the circle before firing across the keeper into the far corner.