With last weekend’s game called off, the league season resumed for the First Team on Sunday 13 December against Enfield Town Reserves.

The Bees stormed to a 6-3 victory, closing the gap to second-place Town to just a single point with a game in hand for Karleigh Osborne’s side. Kaitlyn Spencer-Dempsey was the standout performer with a hat-trick, taking her to the top of the scoring charts in the WFL Premier Division.

The squad showed three changes from the team that beat bottom-side Hampton & Richmond before the November lockdown. Amber Langston-Lloyd missed the game through injury, while Eilidh Short and Jess Stickley dropped to the bench. Coming in were Daisy Baranowski, Regan Graver and Nadia Peters.

Enfield, sat in second place before kick-off, also came into the game on the back of a victory over Hampton & Richmond last Sunday. They won that game 14-1 with Claire Huggins scoring five herself. Huggins would find the going much tougher against The Bees.

Straight from kick-off, Brentford were on the front foot and it too just 10 minutes for the opening goal to come. Spencer-Dempsey got things going with a neat finish. Within five minutes she had doubled the lead from the penalty spot.

The home side were finding their opponents too strong all over the pitch and couldn’t cope with the fast-paced attacks by the Brentford wingers. On 25 minutes, confusion in the Enfield defence saw the goalkeeper handle a back pass. The indirect free kick was well taken and the ball smashed in by Spencer-Dempsey from six yards to complete her hat trick inside the first half an hour.

Rebekah Wiltshire got in on the act a few minutes later with a stunning goal, cutting in from the wing and curling a 20-yard shot into the top corner. You’d be absolutely right in thinking it was almost a carbon copy of the Sergi Canós strike against Blackburn at Brentford Community Stadium.

Within a minute Enfield got a goal back after poor communication between Baranowski and goalkeeper Emily Boycott allowed Olivia Syson in to score against an empty net. The comeback was short-lived as Wiltshire pounced on a poor pass out by the opposition goalie, crossing square for Molly O’Reilly to sweep home before half-time. The score at the break was 6-1 to the visitors.

At the break, personnel changes disrupted the flow of the team slightly but the work rate and desire was there for all to see. Enfield gave themselves a glimmer of hope, converting a penalty for hand ball in the box.

With 10 minutes to go, a long-range effort by Syson evaded Boycott in goal and found the net. The home side worked hard to restore some pride in the second half and severely limited Brentford’s chances, but ultimately that first 45 proved to be the difference.

The final game before Christmas is a home tie against Comets, and a chance to put more pressure on the league leaders.

BEES: E. Boycott; Goolab, Graver, Baranowski, Webb; Holmes, Troth; Peters, Reid, Wiltshire; Spencer-Dempsey

Subs: Courlander, Hogan, O’Reilly, Short, Stickley

TOWN: Bellinger, Calder, Diaz, Hammond, Harris, Howard, Huggins, Marriner, Martin, Romer, Syson

Subs: Bassett, Garner, Simmons