Brighouse Town Women hit double figures in emphatic cup win over Brayton Belles

Rob Mitchell’s side, who play four leagues higher than Belles, went into the match as firm favourites but there was nothing to separate the two sides for the first 20 minutes.

After several near misses Danielle Whitham finally broke the deadlock with a thunderbolt midway through the first half and Leah Embley added a second minutes later when she won and converted a penalty.

Imogen Williams added a third but Brighouse were denied a fourth when Embley’s second penalty was well saved by Brayton Belles’ goalkeeper Emma Harris in her final match before retirement.

Sophie John rifled in a fourth with a long distance shot just before half-time.

The second half began with the visitors searching for more goals and Embley made it 5-0 on 51 minutes with her 16th goal of the season when she went for a cross with a retreating Brayton Belles’ defender.

The home side never gave up but there was let up as Mitchell brought on all four substitutes in Greene, Woodruff, Cara Fields and Becky Gompertz in quick succession.

Gompertz quickly linked up with Woodruff to make it 6-0 before Greene marked her return from injury to win and score Brighouse’s third penalty of the match.

Having waited 70 minutes to score their first seven goals, the next seven came in a frantic final 20 minutes which was harsh on the battling home side.

Greene and Woodruff both added another three goals each before Ella Hartley scored with the last kick of the game on her first team debut since signing from FC United of Manchester.

Speaking after the game Mitchell said: “Credit to Brayton Belles because they made it very hard for us at the start before we started to impose ourselves on the game.

“I thought Amy Woodruff had a real impact from the bench and Darcie Greene was sensational bearing in mind it was her first game back from injury.

“Special mention for Ella Hartley who was finally able to mark her first team debut with a goal.”

Brighouse finally return to National League Northern Premier action on Sunday when they host Hull City