Oxford United Women made it six League wins in a row to cruise past Plymouth Argyle in the Southern Premier Division on Sunday afternoon.
Zoe Barratt notched her second hat-trick in as many games, with Izzy Cook scoring her first goal since returning from injury to wrap up the win in the South-West.
Fresh off the back of her first career hat-trick last time out, Barratt wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down; within ten minutes she opened the scoring.
Latching on to a ball over the top from Cecily Wellesley-Smith, who recently received another call up to the Lionesses U17 Squad, the U’s number nine confidently slotted home.
Five minutes later and United had a second. Cook has worked tirelessly to recover from a foot injury and brings pace and directness to the Oxford front line. When Shelly Provan picked her out at the back post, she nodded home to double the advantage – her first ever goal scored with her head.
Barratt then rounded off a perfect first half display, picking out the top corner as she has done so often this season to make it three in the 37th minute.
The formidable striker wasn’t done there and had back-to-back hat-tricks within three minutes of the restart. Skipper Leah Burridge’s slid her in after an intricate passing move, and she duly obliged to tuck home with her left foot to make it twenty goals for the campaign – a marvellous achievement in January.
It was professional from there on out from the U’s. Lacy Liggett, Katie Sherwood and Anais Trinci replaced Barratt, Shaunna Jenkins and Sarah King, and the Yellow’s saw out victory to put right the FA Cup defeat they suffered at Coach Road in December.
Six wins in a row in the League, four wins out of four in the Division for Sam Rose since taking over. On to London Bees away on the 4th of February.