Coventry City Ladies breezed into the third round of the FA Cup with a 7-0 demolition of Midland Combination rivals Leafield Athletic. Robyn James scored a superb hat-trick after Jade Formaston had given the Sky Blues a two goal lead. Natasha Lynch and Nikki Miles were also both on the scoresheet as Coventry stretched their unbeaten start to the season to 14 matches.
Leafield rarely threatened in the first half and saw their best chance well saved by the feet of Netty Manca inside the first minute. Seconds later Formaston scored her first with a wayward cross that caught Emma Roache by surprise, the luckless keeper did get her hands to the effort but could only help it into the net as the Sky Blues took charge of the tie. Formaston's second came in the 19th minute from a header but the ball ended up in the same place. Leafield failed to clear a corner and Emily Hanson took full advantage of an opportunity to float another cross to the back post where Formaston comfortably out jumped everyone to head City into a commanding lead.
James took over from there displaying great control in the 32nd minute before steadying herself to drive home from 25 yards. Her second came 11 minutes later as she stole possession just outside the box and coolly slotted past Roache as the keeper came out to close her down. Manca was called upon for only the second time in the match as she held on to a direct free kick that was awarded after a challenge that saw Stacey Christie's name go into referee Andrew Stickley's note book.
The second period followed much the same pattern as the first, whenever Leafield did manage to get into City's half outstanding centre-backs Natasha Lynch and Gemma Clarke snuffed out the danger with consummate ease. Lynch's day was made all the better as she headed home Coventry's fifth from a Helen Dermody corner in the 51st minute. James completed her hat-trick on the hour mark after Hanson released her with a perfectly weighted through ball. Roache came out to force James wide but City's top scorer squeezed in her ninth of the season with her left foot.
Miles wrapped it up with Coventry's seventh twenty minutes from time. It was a scrappy affair as the ball was scrambled across the line after Roache could only parry a defensive header up in the air. Miles won the battle to get to the ball and squeezed it in at the far post to complete the rout. The Sky Blues have scored 18 without reply in their past four games and next week will face a Radcliffe Olympic team that they've beaten 4-0 during that spell.
Manager Paul Cudby was delighted with his sides display "we were magnificent today, we've been threatening to give someone a hiding for a while but never found the killer instinct until this afternoon. Defensively we were excellent again and going forward we were creative and incisive. Next week's going to be another big test and we're all really looking forward to it".
Team: - Manca; Whitfield (Wilcox 46), Lynch, Clarke, H. Miles; Formaston (Dermody 46), McKenna, Christie (N. Miles 64), Henson; Hanson, James.
Subs Not Used: - Morgan, Archibald.
Goals: - Formaston (2, 19), James (32,43, 60), Lynch (51) N. Miles (69).
Booked: - Christie.
Sent Off: - None.