Reading moved up to third in the FA WSL 1 table as goals from Rachel Furness, Rachel Rowe and a Remi Allen brace saw them triumph 4-0 at Yeovil Town.
Four goals from the visitors comfortably saw off bottom-placed Yeovil at The Viridor Stadium, as Allen bagged two before half time, in front of a crowd of 223.
Reading then wrapped it up with a solid performance in the second half to put them only seven points off league-leaders Chelsea.
KEY MOMENTS
Allen headed Reading in front on ten minutes as she was left unmarked from Fara Williams’ cross and made no mistake to give the away side an early lead.
The Royals’ midfielder was on the scoresheet again three minutes later, heading home from a corner in a packed penalty box.
Yeovil came close to an immediate response but Jones’ goal-bound effort was well saved by visiting goalkeeper Mary Earps.
The Glovers’ Annie Heatherson then must have thought she had scored her side’s first goal of the season as she pounced on a mix up in the Reading defence.
Although her effort beat the keeper, it was excellently blocked by Royals’ captain Kirsty Pearce to prevent Heatherson from halving the deficit.
At the other end Brooke Chaplen looked to make it three as she ran through on the home goal, but Megan Walsh closed down the angle and made a good block with her legs.
Just before the hour Reading’s Furness made it three as she headed home from a corner.
Jade Moore looked to get her name on the scoresheet as she broke through Yeovil’s backline but Walsh made a superb point-blank save to prevent a fourth.
Six minutes from time, Reading extended their lead and in some style. Rowe cut inside and hit a stunning drive into the left-hand top corner, leaving Walsh with no chance, and completing a comfortable victory.
WHAT THEY SAID
Yeovil goalkeeper and captain Megan Walsh said:“We fought hard, scrapped for every ball and didn’t give up. You could see we were hurting at the end, but we kept putting pressure on them.
“We’ve just got to maintain that belief and keep going. We can never give in as a club or we’ll get punished for it.
“I do look at my saves but it’s a team performance and we’ve got to assess it as a whole.
“We need to be better at set-pieces. We’ll look at them and see what we need to do to make it right.
“The two early goals killed the game and our momentum. It got in our heads a bit, but we kept going and had chances.
“Their fourth goal was good, I’ll give it to her. You can’t save all of them.
“We’re blessed to be able to get a pitch. We’ve just got to use what we’ve got and it was the same for both teams.”
Reading manager Kelly Chambers said: “Footballing-wise we could’ve been a bit better, but it was always going to be difficult on that pitch.
“Places like this are hard to come. We’re used to playing expansive football but we knew we might have to be different today. The most important thing was the win.
“A nice clean-sheet, four goals on the board and that now takes us to third in the league where we want to be.
“We said at the start of the game that we need to come out of the blocks flying and the girls delivered straight away.
“Yeovil keep going until the end, they’re very determined and want to play. They made things difficult tonight but our quality shone through.
“The fourth goal was a great strike. That’s what she’s [Rachel Rowe] capable of. She deserves a goal like that for the performances she’s put in recently and again it’s nice to see people like Remi Allen collecting goals from midfield.
“We’ve not got to rely on our strikers, we’ve got goals coming from all across the pitch which is great for us.”
By Sportsbeat
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