Oteng's hat-trick secures victory for Women’s Under-21s

Persis Oteng netted a hat-trick as our Women’s Under-21s concluded phase one of the Professional Game Academy (PGA) League campaign with a 4-2 victory over Southampton on Wednesday afternoon.

The Ghana Under-19 international converted from the penalty spot to break the deadlock inside the opening 10 minutes before midfielder Rania Oukriss doubled our lead with an improvised header on the half-hour mark.

Oteng grabbed her second goal of the game with a curling effort from the edge of the box and, despite the visitors cutting the deficit on the stroke of half time, we reinstated our three-goal advantage as Oteng once again showed composure to slot home from the penalty spot for a second time in the game, taking her tally to 12 goals in all competitions this season.

The Saints halved the deficit in the final quarter of the game as our Under-21s claimed all three points to round off phase one with a positive result. We will still spend phase two of the competition in Division Two alongside three other sides from the Southern Division and four from the Northern Division, which is set to begin in November.

In a boost to the starting side in the autumn sun at our Enfield training complex, coach Nick Hardy was able to call upon Zara Bailey for the first time since her injury in the opening day fixture against Arsenal and the team were certainly quick off the traps as Jhanaie Pierre, fresh back from international duty with England Under-19s, went close with an effort that narrowly went over the bar with just 90 seconds on the clock.

However, eight minutes later, we were awarded a penalty as Oteng was brought down inside the box and the forward stepped up to take the spot-kick, slotting the ball into the bottom right corner. Saints’ goalkeeper Kayleigh Prout then produced a fantastic double save to first push away Lucy Barraclough’s effort from distance before denying Oteng a second.

But we managed to double our advantage shortly after as Grace Breen delivered a free-kick from the right-hand side and, although the ball was at an awkward height, Oukriss managed to adjust her body to head home at the front post. Oteng then extended our lead to three on 34 minutes, curling her effort from the edge of the box over Prout and into the back of the net.

The visitors cut the deficit on the stroke of half time as a lapse of concentration in our backline saw Natasha Udebhulu fire home from inside the box but, five minutes after the break, we reinstated our three-goal advantage as Oteng was once again brought down inside the box and she calmly converted from the spot for the second time in the game.

Udebhulu reacted to a moment of miscoummication between Emily McMaster and Radbourne to slot the ball home into an empty net to pull a goal back for Southampton on 74 minutes. Although that set a nervy final quarter of the game, we stood strong defensively to limit the visitors to very few opportunities, while Oteng was inches away from taking her tally to four in stoppage time, seeing her effort cleared off the line after an excellent run down the right-hand side.

“A pleasing way to finish phase one of the competition”

Reflecting on the victory over Southampton, Hardy said: “A really positive end to the campaign and that was our message heading into the game. It was about momentum and morale as that’s important heading into what is an effectively a two-week break, we will look to put on a few fixtures that will keep us going and they’re even more important now on the back of the positivity that we saw against Southampton, so a pleasing way to finish phase one of the competition.

Asked about Bailey’s return to action and more minutes on the pitch for Ruby Gaitley and Cruz Fuller-Fagan – who both recently returned from injury – he added: “It’s great to see those players back on the pitch, they have worked very hard, the team off the pitch have also worked exceptionally hard to get them back ready. Like the rest of the squad, they’re very good players, positive characters, on and off the pitch, and individuals with so much potential, so it’s brilliant to have them available once again and compliment the players who have been playing this season as well.”