Brentford Women 6 Millwall 0: Cheatley's hat-trick secures clinical win | OneFootball

Brentford Women were dominant on Sunday as they beat Millwall 6-0 in London and South East Premier action at Bedfont Sports Club.

Asees Sangha got the Bees off to the ideal start with a goal midway through the half, before Ashley Cheatley had the hosts' second going into half-time. Cheatley bagged a brace in the second half to pick up her hat-trick, Renai McCrea and Khyri McKenzie netting once each to secure an important three points for Carly Williams' side.

The west Londoners started the better of the two sides across the first 15 minutes, with their build-up play able to cut through Millwall’s press; however, they couldn’t piece it together in the final third.

Williams’ side started strongly off the ball too, with their aggressive press meaning Millwall had no time to relax as the Bees continually won the ball back.

The deadlock was broken on 25 minutes as Sangha fired home a beautiful strike. Millwall goalkeeper Wiktoria Gmiterek cleared the ball from the danger area, but it fell straight to Sangha. Noticing that Gmiterek was off her line, the midfielder lobbed a high ball which sailed into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

Cheatley came inches from doubling the Bees' lead two minutes later, but her left-footed strike cannoned into the side of the net.

She went one better on the half-hour mark. Habeebat Gbajabiamila forced her way past her defender down the right side before crossing the ball into the box, with Cheatley meeting it at the near post and tucking home a sublime goal to double Brentford’s lead.

On top and looking to make the most of their momentum, Brentford continued to press for a third goal. Chelsie Berry came close as she tried to mirror Sangha and lob Gmiterek, who was off her line, but the ball sailed over the bar.

Despite the west Londoners dominance, it was Millwall who came closest to scoring next. Elsa Ejupi managed to find space behind Brentford’s backline and was one-on-one with Bees goalkeeper Sophie Boycott, but she put her shot wide of the target.

After the break, the Bees didn’t let up and again started promisingly. On 50 minutes, McKenzie was taken down inside the box, with the referee initially letting play go on. After the assistant referee raised his flag calling for a foul, the referee pointed to the spot and awarded the penalty.

Cheatley stepped up to take the spot kick and sent the ball straight, Gmiterek remaining in her starting position and securing the ball.

It was short-lived disappointment for Cheatley, however, as the forward had her brace soon after. Keeping the ball alive with her right foot while under pressure, the no.16 then smashed it into the top right corner from the edge of the box with her left foot, giving Brentford a 3-0 lead.

She came close to her hat-trick a minute later as she flicked the ball on from McKenzie’s long-range strike, but it was kept out.

As the hour mark passed, the visitors had their best look on goal from a corner. The ball was met strongly by Valerie Abu; however, her header rebounded off a teammate before being cleared.

With 20 minutes to play, the Bees put the foot down and doubled their lead in the space of four minutes.

McCrea started the goal fest, her left foot cross landing awkwardly in the box, Gmiterek struggling to judge the ball and watching it bounce over her hands and into the back of the net.

Cheatley had her hat-trick two minutes later. She broke forward and was in space, with the forward then rounding Gmiterek and putting the ball into an empty net.

It was McKenzie’s turn two minutes later, the midfielder smashing the ball home from the edge of the box to make it 6-0.

The win puts Brentford top of the league table on 28 points, three ahead of Saltdean United in second, who hold two games in hand.

Brentford Women: Boycott, Potter, Sangha (Down 56), McCrea, Gbajabiamila (O’Brien 78), Cheatley, McKenzie (Taylor 78), Worsley (Louvrier 73), Berry (Holguin 73), Black, Teale

Booked: Berry 67

Millwall: Gmiterek, Lockett, Joyce, Squirrell, Ejupi, Seely, Brooks-Hughes, Richards, Winfield, Townsend, Abu

Subs: T. Edwards, Coldrick, Langley, Wright, J. Edwards, Throp

Booked: Richards 66, Lockett 90+2

Williams: We scored some very good goals

Brentford Women head coach Carly Williams praised her side's ruthless approach to the game following an impressive win over Millwall.

"We're really pleased with the performance, regardless of the scoreline. We scored some very good goals today, but the overall performance is what we needed, and that was fantastic," she said.

"This week in training, we very much worked on the aggressiveness of the press, the press to win, counter pressing, so that's been a big focus this week, as well as players connecting. That's been fantastic over the last three weeks.

"We saw that chemistry last week, but we weren't quite as ruthless with it. Seeing that come off today, that complete performance, was fantastic and the scoreline says that as well."