Yeovil Town stretched their unbeaten run to 6 matches with a comfortable 4-2 win over struggling Watford on Sunday.
The hosts, Watford, were dealt an injury blow just before kickoff, losing their captain Emily Heaslip and drafting in the inexperienced Vanna Lee for her first appearance of the season.
Meanwhile, Yeovil made one change from their 1-0 win over Everton, with Natasha Knapman replacing the injured Corinne Yorston, and making a real claim for the position long term in the process.
The newly signed striker was involved straight from kick off, scoring the opening goal with just four minutes, after being picked out in the box by the influential Annie Heatherson, who ran the show all day.
Five minutes later Yeovil extended their early lead when Heatherson cut the ball back for Helen Bleazard to double their advantage.
The Hornets pulled a goal back on 39 minutes when Stacie Donnelly pounced on a goalkeeping error from Charlotte Haynes. But Heatherson restored Yeovil’s two goal cushion just a minute later with a cool finish past Shayla Burgess.
After the break, both sides started slowly but Sasha Adamson, on as a half-time substitute for Watford, looked lively and tested Haynes from distance on 68 minutes.
However, it was all set to be Heatherson’s day and the veteran forward soon grabbed her second of the afternoon, making it 5 for the season, with a perfectly placed free-kick to put the game out of reach for struggling Watford.
To their credit, the hosts did keep going and were awarded a late penalty when Josie Green was fouled after a driving run into the box. Jenna Dear dutifully converted to give the Golden Girls a consolation goal but her side remain second from bottom in the league, with just 4 points from 8 games.
“We’re obviously disappointed, we’ve come out of the game with nothing and it’s a slow start that’s cost us again,” said manager John Salomon.
“We’ve got to start performing from the off, we’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb.”
As for Yeovil, they stay third but are now just 3 points behind the top two, and will host second-placed Doncaster next weekend.
Stand-out performer Heatherson is confident her side can earn promotion this season and said after their victory against Watford: “If we win next week against Doncaster we’ll be right up there going into the break and it’s going to be a good game at our place.
“We want to put ourselves in a good position going into the second half of the season. The aim has always been promotion this season, from the word go.”
