Larkhall Athletic 0 Argyle Ladies 4

The victory could have been much higher, in fact, as the Pilgrims dominated the game from start to finish.

 

On a bitterly cold afternoon Argyle tore into their hosts and within two minutes they were in front. The ball was worked down the left by Amber Pollock whose cross fell to Natasha Knapman. The striker turned sharply from twelve yards out to fire the ball past the goalkeeper for her 20th goal of the season.

Five minutes before half time Argyle doubled their advantage. A poor goal kick was nodded back towards the goal where the alert Marks pounced on the ball and calmly placed her shot under the advancing goalkeeper.

 

In the second half Larkhall finally applied some pressure and eight minutes in they were unlucky not to get back into the game when a header from a corner on the right bounced off the crossbar and was cleared by the Argyle defence.

 

The lively Marks wasn't to be denied a second goal; on 58 minutes, she scored the goal of the game. The pacey striker was played in on the right hand side of the goal and with a defender and the goalkeeper closing her down she had the presence of mind to produce a stunning lob over the goalkeeper into the far corner of the net. It was nothing more than her performance deserved.

Argyle's relentless pressure was rewarded 15 minutes from time with another beauty, this time from Ebony Dover. Argyle were awarded a free kick 22 yards out after substitute Lane was brought down. Dover stepped up and placed a delightful right foot shot over the wall and into the top left hand corner of the net. 

With manager Dave Leonard away on England duty at the SW Regional Training Camp, it was left to assistant Travis Rowland to to take the team. "The girls have been working so hard in training over the last couple of weeks," he said. "They have been desperate to put in a performance that shows how good they really are and how our last performance (against Buckland) was just an anomaly.

"Today they have all worked their socks off for one another and they have ran Larkhall into the ground. It is hard to pick out our best player because there genuinely were too many candidates. There is the buzz back in the dressing room and we can't wait to attack the second half of the season."

 

Argyle: Michaela Phillips, Jessie Boston, Rachel Javan, Dani Barr, Katie Middleton, Ebony Dover, Ezme Wells, Kayleigh Brown (Kayley Lane 69), Natasha Knapman (Mollie Taylor 78), Tori Marks, Amber Pollock (Gabi Alphous 78).