Bradford's First XI stayed on course for a top-three spot in the English National Hockey League Division One with a convincing 5-0 victory over Woking, their biggest winning margin so far this season.

Bradford began by missing a chance in the opening minute after striker Nadine Merabi broke clear. She rounded the goalkeeper and was left with an empty net to play the ball into, but the finishing shot went just wide.

That was the beginning of an onslaught on the Woking defence which led to Bradford building a 4-0 lead in the first 17 minutes.

The opening goal came after Woking tried to work the ball out of defence.

Bradford striker Sandeep Kaur anticipated play brilliantly, intercepted a pass and then beat the goalkeeper.

The second goal came three minutes later when midfielder Jill Atkins played a ball to Sarah Whitehouse on the right wing and her cross was tipped over the goalkeeper by Kaur.

The Woking defence were finding it difficult to cope with the speed of Kaur and Merabi when they broke.

The third goal came after Kaur picked up a pass from midfield. Her resulting diagonal run from left to right split the Woking defence and her shot beat the oncoming goalkeeper and supporting striker before Merabi got the final touch.

The fourth goal five minutes later was almost a copy of the third goal, except Merabi made the run and Kaur got the final touch to claim a hat-trick.

Woking never looked like creating any threat and Bradford could have gone into half-time with an even bigger lead had their finishing touches been on target.

In the second half Woking started to get into the game more and although the gap was too big for them to have a chance of salvaging any points out of the match they had two chances to pull two goals back.

One shot resulted in a clearance off the line from Bradford defender Kate Cowlard, and another line stop should have resulted in a penalty stroke being awarded to Woking as the shot was blocked by a foot.

That was the only spell in which Woking looked like penetrating Bradford's defence.

Bradford soon added a fifth goal after Merabi broke away and skilfully carried the ball along the back line. She slipped it back to the penalty spot where left midfielder Lindsey Inman was perfectly positioned to slot the ball home.

Bradford could have added a further two goals before the final whistle but they missed the chances.

With two league matches left Bradford hope that if they can take maximum points against Wimbledon A this weekend and Old Loughts drop points against league leaders Loughborough Students they can edge into runners-up spot.

Bradford Second XI lost 5-3 to Ben Rhydding Second XI in the Yorkshire Premier League.

Bradford Third XI lost 2-0 to Doncaster Independent in Yorkshire League Division Three.

Netherwood Ladies continued their winning run with a 3-1 victory over Harrogate Third XI with two goals from Amanda Gardner and one from Phillipa Jones in Yorkshire League Division Four.

Bradford Ladies under-19 side won the Yorkshire Cup on Sunday beating York 6-0, Colne Valley 3-0, Slazengers 8-0, Wakefield 4-0 in the semi-finals and winning the final 5-0 against Ben Rhydding.

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