Oteng hits four in big win for Women’s Under-21s | OneFootball

Persis Oteng continued her outstanding goalscoring run with a further four goals in the Women’s Under-21s comprehensive 9-1 victory over Crystal Palace on Wednesday afternoon, making it back-to-back wins the Professional Game Academy League.

The Ghana Under-19 international netted a hat-trick inside half an hour at Hotspur Way before adding a fourth with five minutes left to play in the first half, taking her tally to an impressive eight goals in three games.

Jhanaie Pierre, who was named in the England Under-17 squad earlier this month, grabbed the fifth goal before second half strikes from Rania Oukriss, Kendra Brown and a brace from Eloise Hall rounded off the scoring for Nick Hardy’s side.

Crystal Palace, who were competing at this level for the first time, grabbed a late consolation goal through Nia McDonald, but it was scintillating performance from Nick Hardy’s side in warm, tough conditions.

It took inside 60 seconds for us to open the scoring at our Enfield training base as Brown slid the ball into Oteng on the edge of the box and, after some good footwork to create space, she picked out the top corner before she doubled our advantage seven minutes later, firing home at the near-post following Oukriss’ pass.

Oteng recorded her hat-trick just after the half hour mark as a strong tackle from Grace Breen in midfield saw the ball fall kindly to the forward and she calmly slotted the ball past the goalkeeper and, with four minutes left in the first half, the young forward capitalised on a moment of miscommunication in the backline to poke the ball home from close-range.

Pierre completed the scoring before the break with a lovely left-footed strike into top left corner and five minutes into the second half, we picked up where we left off, Oukriss with a powerful effort from the edge of the box into the roof of the net.

Mia Endacott was introduced on 52 minutes, replacing Evie Northwood, and the former Plymouth start was involved in our sixth goal of the afternoon, linking up with Oukriss down the right-hand side and her low cross was converted by Brown inside the box. Eloise Hall, who was also a second half substitute, netted her first goal of the season she showed composure to take the ball around the goalkeeper and place the ball into the empty net after a lovely pass from Oukriss.

Hall grabbed her second of the game in the closing stages, turning home Endacott’s fizzed ball into the box, however there was still time for the visitors to net a goal themselves as McDonald raced through and calmly slotted her effort into the bottom corner in what was the final kick of the game.

"We felt a performance like this was coming and I’m just really pleased it did"

Reflecting on the game, Hardy said: “I’m super proud of the players, super proud of everyone involved because, for me, that’s the ultimate reflection of all the hard work that everyone has put in from pre-season to where we are now. We felt a performance like this was coming and I’m just really pleased it did, especially across all areas. The message to the girls beforehand was ‘it’s about time we did it for 90 minutes’ and, other than the small matter of conceding at the end, we did exactly that.

“The scoreline is more of a reflection on our improvement, development, consistency and persistence on what we are trying to do, however they still caused us problems and were consistent with how they were trying to play and that’s what this league is all about, seeing clubs developing players and playing the right way. There was a few moments where they could have got a foot hold early on in the second half and, I think, the scoreline doesn’t reflect their performance.”