By Bobby Jones and Haroun Ashrif
EMILY Smyth-Roberts and Carmen Clements were the stand-out performers as USW cruised into the BUCS Western Conference Cup quarter-finals with an impressive display at home.
The victory against Bristol means USW stay undefeated in both the league and cup, and it was the first-half that proved critical to this latest success.
USW started the game with a fierce tempo and soon found themselves applying huge pressure on the Bristol goal.
The breakthrough came from an opportunistic piece of play as their attacking pressure led to a mistake in the Bristol defence, which Smyth-Roberts took full advantage of from close range.
The second goal soon followed after some great one touch play between defence and attack, which ended with Beth Jefferies scoring after an accurate finish from the left side of the box.
Clements got the third goal after capitalising on another mistake in defence from Bristol. She got her second in quick succession when Smyth-Roberts put her through on goal with an accurate pass from deep.
Just before half-time Smyth-Roberts claimed her second after great link-up play from the attackers and midfield players.
After a dominant first half by USW they continued their pressure in the second half with an early hat-trick goal from Clements.
The strike came from a great run from Josephine Hurry – another player who had an excellent game – and took the advantage to 6-0.
Having carved out such a healthy lead USW started to take their foot off the gas.
That invited pressure from Bristol who had a great opportunity coming from the left wing, however the chance was squandered as the Bristol player failed to hit the ball into an open goal.
Despite their late resurgence, Bristol failed to get any sort of consolation from the good chances they had.
To rub salt in their wounds, USW broke with a counter-attack which produced another goal from Smyth-Roberts, who was the second player to complete her hat trick.
Star performer: Emily Smyth-Roberts