South Lakes on the rampage against Keswick seconds

SOUTH Lakes recovered from the worst possible start against Keswick seconds to show just why they are top of the Cumbria Women's League.

The Reds fell behind with just three minutes on the clock, but they were soon level through Suze Armstrong and went on to complete an 11-3 thrashing of the Lake District side.

South Lakes upped the pressure after levelling, and with a great build-up play from Jen Clayton, Sarah Robinson and Angela Thornton, they were awarded a short corner.

Player-of-the-match Rebecca Cook injected the ball to Lesley Davey who slipped it right to Emma Armstrong for her to score Lakes' second.

The pressure continued, as Robinson played the ball out to Catherine Cooke who dribbled down the left. She passed to Gemma Jupp for her to place the ball off an opponent's foot and win another short corner.

Cook injected the ball to Robinson, who slipped it right again for Emma Armstrong to score her second.

Rebekah Nuttall, Suze Armstrong and Lesley Davey played the ball beautifully around the back to switch the ball across the pitch to Clayton who dribbled down the left, switching into Cook who played back out to Emma Armstrong.

She dribbled the ball round the back and was soon awarded a short corner. Cook injected the ball to Davey, who did the rest to make it 4-1.

Within two minutes South Lakes were awarded yet another short corner. Cook found Davey once more, who slipped it right to Emma Armstrong and she deflected the ball into the back of the net.

Cooke soon played the ball out to Angela Thornton, who dribbled down the left, injected the ball into the D for Gemma Jupp to pick up and shoot to make it 6-1 at half-time.

South Lakes goalkeeper Joy Potter had a reasonably quiet first half, but with Keswick looking to fight back she was called into action and made some cracking saves after the break.

Eventually Keswick managed to pull one back, but within a minute, Robinson dribbled the ball up and played it into Cooke, who scored number seven.

Another fantastic build-up between Cook and Emma Armstrong found Jupp to score, and then it was the turn of Emma Armstrong to net after benefitting from some good play from Rebecca Cook.

Clayton and Thornton set up the next goal with some fantastic one-twos down the pitch.

Thornton played the ball into Cooke to score the tenth before Keswick grabbed their third goal.

Lakes continued attacking for the final five minutes, and more great build-up play from Thornton and Jupp, saw Clayton wrap up the scoring.

The Ulverston-based side face a sterner test on Saturday when they head to third-in-the-table Keswick.