A dominant first half by Ulverstone left little room for Clarence to mount a fight back, as the home side wound up comfortable 8-0 victors. The Foote sisters pulled out a vintage performance, sharing four goals between them, as Ulverstone proved relentless in the early showing. While Clarence found their feet midway through the second half, the side struggled to gain much ground beyond quality defensive clearances.
From the outset, Ulverstone were out with a game plan. Switch the play quickly, use the flanks and shoot low and hard. Two parts of the plan proved a headache for the oppositions defence. The third element however saw resistance from the Clarence goalkeeper, with Amelia Vanderniet pulling out some phenomenal stops with her feet.
The breakthrough for Ulverstone came in the 13th minute. Georgia Foote stormed behind Clarence’s defensive line and forced an excellent save from Vanderniet. Unfortunately for the keeper, Danielle Mitchell was on the tail of her captain to steer the parried ball into the back of the net.
Bar a glimpsing moment of hope for Clarence where Breganti got on the end of one of many clearances but was dispossessed in the hold up, it was all one way traffic. As things began to heat up on the field and niggly challenges started to feel their effect, an Ulverstone goal re-established their authority on the match. It was another goal from winning the second ball, as Lucy Foote found space at the top of the box to hit it sweetly into the corner out of reach from the keeper.
Soon after, Georgia Foote managed to get on the end of a pinpoint cross by McMillan. Somehow remaining balanced, Foote wasn’t deterred in her efforts to finally see one in the back of the net after several earlier attempts.
The onslaught didn't let up, as the home side found two more in the minutes before halftime. The first of the double came from McMillan. The wide player found space on the left flank, took the ball beyond her defender and showed great composure to see it into the net. The following goal was reward for the mayhem Jazmin White had produced all half, with the forward pulling out the tekkers to fool her defender and finally find that elusive goal.
Finding their feet in the second half, Clarence tightened up through the centre, sitting deeper to be less exposed by the long ball while working the offside trap to greater success. Still, Ulverstone were on the hunt.
Georgia Foote found her second of the day ten minutes into the half. Having worked a combination of play as if on the training field, the ball pinged from deep to Amy Bissett on the flank, who one timed the cross directly to Foote. The finish didn’t disappoint. The only surprise was that the ball didn’t burn through the net with the pace of the shot from outside the area.
While all the shots were low and hard in the first half, the second saw that rule thrown overboard. The home side were largely limited to shots skied over the net for much of the second, as they wasted a number of chances. With six minutes of play left Lucy Foote completed the sister-sister act with a clean header for the goal coming from a corner.
Smelling blood with the clock dwindling, substitute Febey Mitchell put in the hard work down the right flank. A quality ball was produced into the area to wind up receiving a wicked deflection off Jessica Downham. The own goal capped off a difficult day of defending for her side.
A final whistle sealed the 8-0 victory for Ulverstone as they perch comfortably in third position on the table. Clarence remain fifth, despite some heavy knocks to the chin in recent weeks, as they continue to sit one spot above being the WSL cellar dwellers.