Coventry City Ladies' rich vein of form continued at the weekend as they convincing beat near neighbours Leicester City 4-0 behind a goal apiece from Helen Dermody, Nikki Miles, Kelly Henson & Leanne McKenna. Dermody opened the scoring after just six minutes latching onto Jade Formaston's cross and volleying in off the underside of the bar. The Sky Blues had looked rampant in the opening exchanges and Dermody's emphatic finish looked like it could've signalled the opening of the floodgates as City went in search of more goals.
They didn't have to wait long as Nikki Miles scored her first of the season in the ninth minute. It looked like it would be a long day for the Foxes when Dermody's corner found an unmarked Miles for her to hit a clean volley in the corner of net. Robyn James was felled in the area on 18 minutes after Nat Wilcox's first time cross picked her out with room to turn, a challenge from behind deprived her of a shooting chance and Henson stepped up to convert the spot kick.
Former Copsewood midfielder, McKenna, now playing as a makeshift centre half, added City's fourth with ten minutes to play with a well directed header. Sarah Morgan kept her third clean sheet of the season after making a spectacular save with 15 minutes to play. The Sky Blues' Centre of Excellence graduate got down smartly to her left to gather a free kick that took a wicked bounce in front of her. The third shut out shows a marked improvement for Coventry's defence as they managed only two in the league all of last season.
Manager Paul Cudby expressed his delight with his player's start to the campaign "I'm really pleased with everyone so far, the whole squad have gone about their business very professionally and the staff have been terrific. Defensively we've been solid, led by our Captain Lynchy (Natasha Lynch) who's been a rock, and it's given us a foundation upon which to play some great football too. We've still got a lot of improving to do if we're going to realise our full potential and we're going to have some big challenges to face together over the next few weeks to maintain this start".
With Radcliffe Olympic's 3-1 defeat at Sporting Club Albion the Sky Blues now own a three point lead atop the Midland Women's Combination League. Next up for Coventry is the visit of Leafield Athletic, the Shirley based club have shipped 17 goals in their first four matches and should have their work cut out for them when they visit the Westwood Heath Sports Ground for Sunday's 14:00 kick-off.