Argyle Women won their final home game of the season on Sunday afternoon, beating Oxford United 5-0.
Paris Dalton’s brace and goals from Tianna Teisar, Arabella Suttie and Roisin Kivel, alongside a clean sheet performance, handed the Greens three points at Home Park.
The victory means Argyle hold second place in the league, six points clear of third-placed AFC Bournemouth, after the Cherries beat AFC Wimbledon at home.
Argyle have a five-goal advantage when comparing goal difference with Bournemouth, but the Cherries have two games in hand.
Argyle will face Real Bedford on the final day of the season, away from home, with Bournemouth still having to face the Pirates at home, before trips to Lewes and the newly crowned FAWNL Southern Premier Division champions Watford, round out the campaign.
Following Argyle’s FAWNL Cup final loss the previous week, Head Coach Marie Hourihan made three changes to her side that took the pitch in the country’s capital, bringing in the cup-tied Una Lue and Phoebe Hampson, as well as Dalton.
Tamara Wilcock, Caitlin Smith and Ellie Noble dropped to the bench, with the latter missing out because of illness.
The game started with Argyle dominating possession but struggling to convert chances in front of goal, often misplacing passes that ended attacking opportunities. When people thought Oxford might be working their way back into the game, Teisar’s superb ‘striker’s finish’ gave the Greens the lead.
Lue slipped the Welsh forward in, and Teisar scored with a dinked finish over the outstretched leg of Olivia Sieradzka, finding the far bottom corner ahead of two recovering Oxford United defenders.
Over the next half an hour, continuous attacking pressure from Argyle forced Oxford into defensive effort after defensive effort, and the visitors just about held on.
Phoebie Poole should have doubled the advantage in the 35th minute. The forward somehow missed a close-range header after Kivel picked out the Argyle number nine with a pinpoint delivery, but it did not matter, with Suttie adding a second seven minutes later.
A corner from Katie Wilson to the front post caught Oxford out, with a flick from Teisar and a pass back into the box from Hampson giving Suttie the chance to turn home, which she did.
Many thought that would be the final action of the half, but it was not. In additional time, two became three thanks to Dalton. Another perfect set-piece delivery, this time a free-kick from Wilson, was volleyed home at the back post first-time by Dalton, meaning Argyle headed into the break with a three-goal lead.
After the restart, Dalton scored her second. After picking up the ball outside the area, a quick touch and shot from outside the box looped over Sieradzka, who was off her line, and into the back of the net.
The final action of the game, following several substitutions, culminated in the biggest celebrations of all. Confident passing and build-up play from Argyle presented captain Kivel the chance to add a fifth goal and score her first in front of the Green Army at Home Park – and she succeeded.
Kivel was quickly mobbed by her teammates in green, with Argyle managing to hold out and pick up three points in their final game of the year at Home Park.
Argyle: 1 Hermione Cull, 2 Una Lue, 3 Phoebe Hampson, 6 Layla Proctor, 9 Phoebie Poole (15 Tamara Wilcock, 75), 11 Roisin Kivel (capt), 14 Katie Wilson (18 Caitlin Smith, 77), 17 Paris Dalton, 23 Olivia Francis (7 Charlotte Whitmore, 77), 24 Tianna Teisar, 26 Arabella Suttie. Substitutes: 33 Ella Stowell (gk), 5 Giota Papaioannou, 16 Ella Stephens, 19 Ellie Noble.
Goals: Teisar 11, Suttie 42, Dalton, 45+2, 55, Kivel 74
Oxford United: 19 Olivia Sieradzka, 2 Nicola Gibson, 3 Shelly Provan (20 Lucy Trinder, 68), 4 Kate Wiseman, 5 Naomi Bedeau (capt), 7 Nicole Barrett (22 Maya Kendell, 80), 8 Jenna Legg, 12 Shaunna Jenkins, 15 Ellie-Mae Richardson (30 Holly Manders, 68), 18 Grace Palmer, 21 Maisy Barker. Substitutes: 26 Abbie Carpenter, 27 Isabelle Bowden, 28 Eva Burgess.
Yellow cards: Legg 58, Gibson 84.
