Gloucester Hartpury women’s futsal team clung on to beat Southampton Aztecs 5-4 to remain unbeaten in the WSS League Cup thanks to Jade Grove’s stunning hat-trick.
Hartpury got off to a great start, with Ella Hitchcox opening the scoring inside the first two minutes, but Southampton immediately responded and scored three quickfire goals thanks to Nicola Curtis and a brace from Kayleigh Tonks.
The Gloucester side pulled one back just before half-time, with Jade Grove deftly flicking a near post cross over the keeper, but trailed 3-2 going into the break.
Head coach Paul McHugh was visibly disappointed with his teams first half display, as they routinely over-committed players going forward and the Aztecs punished them on the break.
But as the second half started Hartpury began to show their quality, with tidy finishes from Grove and Sammy Scrivens giving Hartpury the lead.
Grove then completed her hat-trick with six minutes to go in stunning fashion, turning her defender and unleashing a thunderous right-footed shot into the top left corner to put Hartpury 5-3 up.
Tonks completed a hat-trick of her own with one minute to go to bring the Aztecs back within one goal, but Hartpury clung on for an important win.
Full Time | ⏰ @hartpuryfutsal 5-4 @SotonAztecs
+3 points within the @FA_NFS league cup group stage takes the #Acorns one step closer to the next round! 🏆👏
Goals: ⚽️
Grove x 3
Scrivens
Hitchcox🔴⚫️#ProudToBelong pic.twitter.com/o2WMCoaZmr
— Hartpury Futsal Club (@hartpuryfutsal) November 11, 2023
After the game, McHugh was effusive in his praise for Grove.
“Jade’s brilliant, I think that’s about her fifth hat-trick this year already, it’s a regular occurrence.
“She’s still young as well, just twenty-one, so she’s got loads of room for improvement, but she’s playing at a great level and she’s scoring loads of goals.
“That third one, what a worldie!
“We’ll have to get some footage of that and get it shared around.”
This win gives Hartpury 6 points from two games and leaves them with one foot in the quarter finals of the League Cup, with the return legs against Southampton and Maidenhead still to go.
But the result was more impressive considering Hartpury were without one of their star players, Rose Kent.
The 19 year old is expected to play an integral part in England’s campaign as they hope to build on the success they experienced two years ago at the European championships, where a 16 year-old Kent scored a hat-trick in the final against Spain to lead the Lionesses to victory.
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Mchugh is immensely proud of Kent and believes she has all the attributes to make a difference at the tournament.
“Rose’s 1-v-1 ability is really unique and also her ability with both feet, I still don’t know if she’s left or right-footed, that’s how good she is with both feet.
“Rose is a really big part of the squad and a great person to have around, but obviously duty calls at the minute with her going to Brazil for the World Cup.
“She’s gonna be a really big part of the squad, and hopefully they go on to achieve good things.
“Everyone here is really proud and wishing her all the best for the tournament.”
