Aly Lyons fired a hat trick as Royal Wootton Bassett Town Ladies opened their South West Women's Football League Eastern Division campaign with a convincing 5-0 victory away against Oldland Abbotonians.

Cup commitments in recent weeks meant Bassett's first league game got pushed back to the final week of September. But, while that may have led some teams to wilt under the pressure of having to play catch-up from the start, Bassett did not appear to suffer from the delay.

They did admittedly take time to grab the first goal of the afternoon after a first half display in which they put their hosts under a great deal of pressure failed to yield a goal.

However, five minutes after the restart Lyons beat the offside trap before coolly lobbing the Oldland 'keeper to break the deadlock.

She quickly added a second, finding the net after a surging run and square pass from Amber Egerton to set her up.

Bassett had now found their groove, and midfielder Lisa Coe made it three with a long range strike.

Lyons then completed her hat trick to make it 4-0, latching onto strike partner Zoe Shellard's through ball and tucking into the bottom corner.

To round things off, a well-worked team goal brought number five. Neat play in the final third opened up room for Emma Sykes to shoot, and last season's Players' Player of the Year eventually found the net after seeing her initial two shots blocked.

Credit: Stuart Smedley
Last modified on Sunday 30th September 2018 at 16:30