Magnificent seven as title-hunting Foxes put Bees to the sword
CITY IN GREAT FORM AHEAD OF THEIR TOP-OF-THE-TABLE CLASH
LEAGUE leaders Leicester City continued their charge towards the FA Women’s Championship title as they put lowly London Bees to the sword to secure an impressive ninth win on the spin, writes Shane MacDermott of Sportsbeat.
Braces from Lachante Paul and Shannon O’Brien were sandwiched between goals by Millie Farrow and Natasha Flint, before Esmee de Graaf ’s late stunner rounded off the scoring as the hosts were condemned to their sixth defeat on the bounce.
The Bees had to soak up sustained early pressure at The Hive, but they had the first chance as Bonnie Horwood’s effort was cleared off the line.
Paul showed a sign of things to come when she fired over the bar, before Bees’ skipper Sarah Quantrill produced a great low save to tip Hannah Cain’s effort past the post.
Farrow opened the scoring just before the break when she converted Remi Allen’s perfectlyweight cross from the right-hand side.
And the fantastic Foxes’ lead was doubled three minutes later when Paul carefully caressed into the bottom corner. The dominant visitors picked up from where they left off after the break when Quantrill was beaten by Paul’s low drive five minutes after the restart.
Paul was denied a hat-trick as Quantrill saved well with her legs but substitute O’Brien poked home the rebound, her first for the club, before adding the fifth moments later.
Flint slotted home an easy sixth with just over 20 minutes to go before de Graaf’s late screamer caught Quantrill out. Helen Ward hit the post for the hosts right at the death as they looked for a consolation goal.
Leicester City goalscorer Shannon O’Brien said: “It was great, from the first minute we were on it and ruthless and that showed with the amount of goals we scored.
“It’s a great statement going into the next big seven days for us. That result’s behind us now and all eyes are on Durham next week now for us.
“We had a few chances and it just took that one goal to open everything up and after that we were great and took our chances.
“I’m delighted. I’m so happy to score a couple of goals and contribute. I scored sort of straight away after coming on and then I got a second, it’s a brilliant day for me and the team.”
London Bees striker Helen Ward said: “It’s really disappointing and we weren’t good enough at the end of the day.
“I thought we did really well for the first 40 minutes and matched them.
“But then they got that first goal and our heads dipped a little bit, we need to react better to adversity and not let our heads drop so quickly.
“Winning’s a habit and losing’s a habit and unfortunately for us we’re in a losing habit at the moment.
“We’ve got to keep fighting, there are three games to go and hopefully we can turn it around.”