And Bournemouth doubled their lead in the fifth minute, with Newbury rocking. Finding themselves two nil down, Newbury suffered another blow when Tracey Beales picked up an impact injury, and she had to be replaced in the 15th minute. Molly Baker making a substitute appearance. This prompted a reshuffle in the Newbury ranks, but Bournemouth were still rampant and made it 3-0 just three minutes later.

Bournemouth added three more goals in the first half, to make it 6-0, and Newbury were already on the end of a hiding.

The half time break gave Newbury the chance to re-group and re-assess their tactics. They came out for the second period with a strong intention not to concede any further, and they certainly put in an improved performance, despite suffering further bad luck with another key injury. This time, to captain and defender, Becky Anderson, after 55 minutes. With no other substitutes available, and with Anderson unable to continue, Newbury had no option but to go down to just ten players. Play re-started with a Bournemouth free kick, from which they scored to make it 7-0.

But then, Newbury again found resilience and were far more organised defensively. Despite having almost all of the possession, Bournemouth were unable to score again – that is until the 80th minute, when they did add an eighth goal. But prior to that, Erin Davis-Donne in the Newbury goal, had produced a string of remarkable saves to keep the score-line down. And Shelley Forster in Newbury’s midfield, was tireless in her work rate. Despite only having ten players for the last 35 minutes, no one in Newbury’s ranks gave up, or allowed their heads to drop. Bournemouth ran out deserved 8-0 winners, but Newbury will look to build on their second half display, when they travel to Abingdon United Ladies for the next game.

Match report by Sue Hewett