A very welcome 3 points for West in their latest league match. Blackburn have made a decent start to life in the Premier League having won 4 of their 7 games prior to kick-off, so we expected a challenging afternoon.

West made the best possible start, scoring after just 4 minutes, Jami Hodges with a right-footed finish when the ball rebounded off the bar from an attempted clearance. We were lucky not to concede on 8 minutes as Blackburn hit the post following some poor West defending.

West doubled their lead on 14 minutes, good work by Sophie Bracegirdle and Taylor Gunn found Shauna Edmondson on the right of the Blackburn area. She cut in, making space to let a left footed shot fly into the net. We were on top now and on 21 minutes extended the lead as Taylor Gunn met an excellent Vicky Kerr corner with a cushioned header to lead 3-0.

It was a very confident half from West, and we perhaps could have had one or two more, which would have been very handy as we had a wobble early in the second half. Blackburn scored two quick goals from set pieces on 54 and 58 minutes, and had other chances too.

As the half progressed West made changes and regained some composure as well as introducing fresh legs. A 4th for West eventually came in the 78th minute, Taylor heading in from a lovely Shauna Edmondson cross. The referee somehow found over 8 minutes of added time which did at least allow Vicky Kerr to score with the goal of the game, a cracking finish from outside the area, shortly after Arshi Zahoor had been denied by a brilliant save from the Blackburn keeper.

The Reserves also had a decent afternoon. A 6-4 away win at Urmston Meds in the GMWFL cup with goals from Cath Thompson (4), Jess Hartley and Saskia Speed.

Team: Jefferson (GK), Blöchl, Mason, Veryard, Caddick, Bowett-Robinson (Ford 64’), Edmondson (c), Bracegirdle (Ashton 73’), Hodges (Mundell 75’), Kerr, Gunn (Zahoor 84’)

Scorers: Gunn (2), Edmondson, Kerr, Hodges