WOMEN’S MATCH REPORT: STOURBRIDGE 0-4 BURNLEY

Clarets extend unbeaten run to four

Laura Elford’s headed brace and further strikes from Leah Embley and Millie Ravening earned Burnley Women a 4-0 victory over Stourbridge on Sunday afternoon.

The Clarets are now unbeaten in their last four games and have claimed 10 Northern Premier Division of the Women’s National League points in the process.

Head Coach Rebecca Sawiuk made four changes from the victory over Stoke City, with Dom Cooper returning to the pitch for the first time since the end of January.

Elford, Rhema Lord-Mears and Lizzy Hamer, who all provided goal contributions off the bench last week, came into the starting XI at the War Memorial Ground too.

At the end of a battling opening 10 minutes Burnley created their first chances as Elford almost connected with a bicycle kick and Cooper looped a shot onto the roof of the net.

Elford then broke the deadlock on 28 minutes with a second headed goal in as many games, glancing a Tilly Wilkes corner beautifully into the bottom left corner.

That combination almost bore fruit once again before the end of the first half but Elford’s header dropped the wrong side of the post that time around.

The Clarets started the second half in control of the football and Wilkes tested Stourbridge ‘keeper Jamie-Lee Bamford with a free-kick.

That control eventually paid off with 64 on the clock as Elford glanced another header into the bottom left corner, this time from a Cooper cross.

Sawiuk started to shuffle her pack, bringing on two of this season’s top scorers in Ravening and Embley.

Clarets ‘keeper Kirstie Levell made her first save of note from a long-range effort in the 75th minute and Wilkes almost immediately made it three up the other end, but her header hit the bar.

A third goal came with 10 minutes to play when Embley advanced onto a Lord-Mears cross to score her 10th of the season in all competitions.

Ravening put the cherry on top of a comfortable afternoon as the game entered stoppage time, finishing off the left-hand post and in from the edge of the area.

Burnley stay 3rd in the table but will now overtake 2nd-placed Nottingham Forest if they win their game in hand, with the Midlands club dropping points against Derby County.

The Clarets welcome AFC Fylde to the County Ground on Wednesday 3rd April, with kick-off at 7:45pm.

Burnley: Levell, Marshall, Hamer (Amaya 74’), Elford, Lord-Mears, Cooper, Prior, Reidford, Wilkes (Siddall 87’), Kelly (Embley 61’), Robinson (Ravening 65’)

Unused Subs: Farrell

Stourbridge: Bamford, Clarke, Timms, Moran, Heaselgrave, Griffiths, Fishwick, Murphy, Embley, Richardson, Robinson

Subs: Omenazu, Bate, Clements, Lowe, Williams

Goals: Elford 28’, 64’, Embley 80’, Ravening 89’