Cudone hat-trick sparks rout as Cobblers Women return to winning ways

A week after the sides played out a 1-1 draw at Sixfields, the Cobblers were back to their ruthless best at Loughborough University with striker Cudone leading the way.

Alex Dicks chipped in with a couple of goals, while there were also singles for Zoe Boote, Rachael Mumford and Chloe Martin.

The win saw the second-placed Cobblers stay level on points with leaders Chesterfield, but they crucially have two games in hand.

Joint-managers Lou Barry and Josh Oldfield made one change to the team that started against Loughborough at Sixfields, with Georgia Tear replacing Abbie Reboul.

Town were dominant throughout.

Dicks had an early snapshot pushed into the side-netting and her fierce strike was denied by a low, diving save on the quarter-of-an-hour mark.

Fay Noble’s well-hit volley from the edge of the area went just over moments later.

The breakthrough was finally made after half-an-hour, when Bianca Luttman played a left-footed ball across goal and Cudone finished with two touches in the middle.

The forward doubled the lead and her tally a few minutes later, running onto Boote’s pass down the line and firing into the far corner.

Dicks made it three in the final minute of the first half when she ran onto Bianca Luttman’s ball over the top and placed into the bottom corner. The goal was her 25th in all competitions this season.

Boote added a fourth on the hour, catching the goalkeeper out with a cross-shot that looped into the far corner.

It was five soon after, when substitute Beth Artemiou’s long-range effort was palmed straight to Cudone, who hooked home from six yards to complete her hat-trick.

Mumford headed home a sixth from Martin’s deep corner with a quarter-of-an-hour to go.

Martin made it seven when she slotted into the far corner from substitute Rachael St John Mosse’s through ball late on.

Dicks rounded off the scoring in the last minute of normal time, side-footing home an eighth and her second from St John Mosse’s over-the-top through ball.

The Cobblers face a tough match on Sunday when they host third-placed Mansfield Town at Harpole (ko 2pm).