Newly crowned league champions Watford Ladies U12 Hornets extended their lead at the top of Division 2 to 16 points with an emphatic 8-1 win over their closest rivals Panshanger.

Having secured the league title before Easter, the Hornets travelled up the A1 on a glorious spring morning seeking to extend their unbeaten league record against 2nd placed Panshanger. However a combination of holidays & illness meant that Carly only had a squad of bare seven on the hottest Saturday of the year so far.

The opening exchanges indicated that Watford would be in for a tough ride if they were going to extend their lead at the top as Panshanger started the game brightly and Ellie & Natasha were called upon to snuff out a couple of early attacks. However with their own first attack of the match, the Hornets won a corner which Danielle swung in. The keeper could only flap at the ball and it sailed into the top corner to put Watford 1-0 up. The goal gave Watford a new level of confidence and after good midfield play from Harriet & Frankie, Danielle calmly slotted hers and the Hornets 2nd of the game - 2-0 Watford.

The Hornets were now in their stride and a fine run and one/two with Danielle saw Frankie fire in the third. Two further strikes from Danielle, giving her 4 goals in the opening 25 minutes, only punctuated by a fine strike from Panshanger, saw the score reach 5-1 to Watford. And with the final kick of the first half, Gabby scored her first goal for the Hornets with a strike from a corner. Half time - 6-1 to Watford.

The start of the 2nd half saw the Hornets continue to dominate and it didn't take long for Watford to extend the lead. Good work again from Frankie and Harriet released Danielle down the left. After beating the defender she looked up and squared the ball to Harriet who calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net. 7-1 Watford.

A reorganisation followed with Danielle going in goal, Izzy coming out on pitch into midfield and Ellie moving up front. Izzy made an immediate impact with some strong runs down the right, setting up Ellie on two occasions. However some good goalkeeping and bad luck prevented Ellie from getting on the scoresheet. However with 10 minutes left, good play from Gabby & Frankie set up Izzy to rifle in the 8th goal of a fine team performance. Harriet saw out the final few minutes in goal as the Hornets wrapped up a great win to extend their unbeaten league run and lead at the top to an impressive 16 points.

Another great display against a good team. One more league match to go to end the league season undefeated and of course, next weeks League Shield Final against Garston Ladies Diamonds. 1pm kick off at Panshanger FC.