Sunday August 17, 2008
National Division, Boreham Wood
Arsenal 4-0 Rovers
KELLY Smith hit a hat-trick as Rovers Ladies kicked off the new National Division season with a 4-0 defeat away to champions Arsenal.
The writing was on the wall for Adam Lakeland's side when the England striker twice found the back of the net in the opening 17 minutes.
Captain Jayne Ludlow extended the home side's lead with neat lob on the stroke of half-time, before Smith completed her treble 10 minutes into the second half.
After the game, Lakeland said: "It was over by half-time. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb because our first-half performance was not good enough.
"We showed them too much respect and didn't get close enough. When you give good players time and space, they'll punish you.
"However, I can't fault the players for the way they performed in the second half. I thought all the new girls did a great job for us and if we can play for 90 minutes for the rest of the season like we did in the second half away at Arsenal, we won't lose many games."
ROVERS: Hill, Harding, Twohig, Brewer (Carroll 90), Byrne, Parry, Shepherd, Preston, Burke (McCoy 75), Anderton, Penny (McDougall 65).
Subs not used: Parker, Campbell.
