Luton Town Ladies rounded off their home league campaign in style, defeating Needham Market 8-1 at Barton on Sunday afternoon.
Fifteen minutes into the game, Needham Market stunned the Hatters and took the lead. A misplaced pass was cut out by Becca Stephenson who finished into an open net.
The Town were not behind for long. Just two minutes later, Tasha Fensome brought Luton level as Shanice Lewis’ inswinging corner was headed onto the post by Liz Mulvaney, but the ball fell into the path of Fensome, who was on hand to tap in.
It was a quick turnaround for the Town, who found themselves ahead in the 25th minute. Tasha Fensome found herself in space and poked the ball home from close range.
Luton extended their lead on the half hour mark. It was goalscorer turned provider, as Fensome linked up with Tsaianne Leander to add the Hatters’ third of the afternoon. Leander laid the ball into the feet of Fensome, on the left-hand side of the area, Fensome’s perfectly-weighted ball back to Leander saw her one-on-one with the keeper, and she curled the ball into the bottom right corner of the net.
Just before the break, Luton netted a fourth. A Shanice Lewis corner was whipped into a crowd of Town players, Mulvaney celebrated what she thought to be her first goal for Luton, but the ball appeared to strike Luton’s number seven, Fensome, for her hat-trick goal.
Myles Maddix and Fadi Mazloum introduced four substitutions at the break. Tanya Blacksley, Leander, Fiona Buttigieg and Amber Leighton were all taken off and replaced by Gabriella Spillman, Bridget Adu, Shianne Swarres and Ami Martins.
It was an instant impact off the bench from Martins, who did exceptionally well, keeping up the high press, which forced the Needham goalkeeper into a misplaced pass that the forward capitalised on, slotting the ball into an empty net and putting any far-fetched Needham hopes to bed.
With an hour played, Luton scored a sixth and it was Fensome again, with her fourth of the afternoon. The golden boot chasing forward picked up the ball on the edge of the area, rounded the goalkeeper and fired the ball into an open goal.
Mulvaney came agonisingly close to scoring her first Luton Town goa; as her effort, from a tight angle crashed off the near post.
With nine minutes remaining, Leighton added the Town’s seventh of the afternoon and it was the pick of the bunch. She collected the ball well outside the area, spotted the goalkeeper off her line and sensationally lobbed her. Simply incredible from Luton’s number 17.
With one minute of normal time, Luton were awarded a penalty and Needham saw red. Spillman shot from inside the area was blocked on the line, by Ashtyn Newley’s hand and without any hesitation, the referee pointed to the spot. Spillman stepped up from the spot, but dragged her penalty wide of the post.
In the second minute of additional time at the end of the ninety, Gabs redeemed herself instantly and netted Luton’s eighth of a dominant performance. It was a thumping finish into the bottom right corner from the winger, to round off a breathtaking performance from Luton.
Starting XI: Hudson, Wade, Fensome, Mulvaney, Maddix, Buttigieg, Tucker, Farmer, Leander, Leighton, Adu.
Subs: Lewis, Martins, Blacksley, Spillman, Swarres.
Report: Owen Williams
