Pride made a positive start and had Duffield on the back foot early on. Daisy Bowen with a chance to open the scoring in the first minute – after doing the hard bit and beating several defenders she got under her shot and put it over the bar. A minute later Steph Eadon’s run from half-way took her inside the area and behind the Duffield defensive line, but her pull back across the goal was behind Daisy Bowen. Pride also hit the woodwork twice, through Ella Kew and Tash Allderidge.

The breakthrough came after 16 minutes, when Aimee Healy-Raynor released Daisy Bowen and she slipped the ball past the keeper [1-0].

Duffield’s first chance came after 20 minutes but was hit wide. There was a major setback for Pride when Steph Eadon came off with a hamstring injury just before the half-hour. By this stage Pride’s early dominance had waned, Duffield were coming into the game more and they had a good opportunity to level just before half-time, but Jodie Hill saved from ten yards, making another save on the stroke of half-time.

After the early spell of fluency in Pride’s play it had become something of a struggle to create very much as Pride seemed unable to retain possession or string many passes together and the closest they came to adding to the score when Eliot Sayavong met one of Tash Alderidge’s excellent corners, but her header was saved.

It had all the hallmarks of a game that would require resilience and a result to be ground out as the teams came out for the second half, but Pride rediscovered some form and reasserted themselves. Daisy Bowen extended the lead on the hour when Duffield’s ‘keeper miscued a clearance [2-0], and almost added another two minutes later when Jodie Hill’s kick was misjudged by the defence allowing Daisy in on goal but the ‘keeper did well to get down and block the shot.

A further reshuffle was required in the Pride ranks when Annie Laight came off but this didn’t affect service as Daisy completed her hat-trick after Tash Allderidge won possession and played Daisy through to slot inside the post [3-0] after 69 minutes.

Tash Allderidge added a fourth, whipping in an inswinging corner which the keeper was unable to keep out [4-0], before Aimee Healy-Raynor completed the scoring with five minutes left, connecting with a long throw from Ella Kew and hitting it on the half volley looping up and dropping over the ‘keeper [5-0].

In the final minute there was a chance for Duffield after Pride lost possession on half-way after dwelling on the ball and a forward pass put a striker in behind the Pride backline, but an excellent recovery run by Bella Dormer saved the day at the expense of a corner but protected a first clean sheet of the season.

Absences for this game and injuries sustained during the game meant several reshuffles and players filling unfamiliar roles, notably Loren Roberts and Isabella Dormer filling in as full backs, but to their credit they stuck to the task and showed their versatility. Having scored a third hat-trick of the season, however, the accolade of Player of the Match went to Daisy Bowen.

Pride are now sweating on news of their latest injuries added to an already lengthy list ahead of Wednesday night’s game at Moorways when Draycott Victoria are the visitors (kick off 7pm).