AFC Bournemouth Women went top of the National League with an emphatic 6-1 win over Maidenhead United.

After the two sides played out a goalless draw at York Road last week, Steve Cuss’ side stormed ahead to all three points at Verwood Town in the sunshine this afternoon.

Abby Jones and Lucy Cooper both netted a brace, while there was also a goal each for Katie James and birthday girl Hannah Francis, who scored her maiden goal in the National League.

Following the game and an impressive performance for the Cherries, manager Cuss was beaming from ear-to-ear when speaking to afcb.co.uk after the game.

“I’m so proud of the players today. It was a real performance and that was down to them,” he said.

“Against the same opposition last week, it didn’t quite go to plan. We made a bold decision to change the formation after a long period of success with the other one.

“That way the players adapted to that is down to them and what they’ve done on the training pitch, in such a short space of time to prepare for this game, was excellent.

“Their application and the way that they played was great, while their passion and drive was superb. What a good day to score six goals as well!”

Cuss went on to discuss the formation change in detail and how it gave his side the upper hand in comparison to last week’s game.

“At this level, you tend to find that teams will do their homework and we’ve played a certain way for a long time.

“We changed that up today and I did say to the players about going out there and enjoying their football. I thought they did that.

“They ran hard from the first minute onwards and it was a really dominant performance. Congratulations to the players, they were great.

“We know we’ll have difficult hurdles and last week we perhaps had one and felt a little sorry for ourselves.

“They were a little bit down as a result, but this week they embraced what we wanted them too. They took everything on board and got a result today.”

Cuss concluded by singling out some individuals, with Jones and Cooper both bagging a brace, and Francis popping up with a special birthday goal.  

“Abby is someone we think a lot of. She epitomises everything we want in a player. She works hard and has been doing one-to-one sessions with us. She trains three or four times a week and has her own training plan.

“We’re delighted for Lucy too. She got two goals today and we don’t put any pressure on her as a 16-year-old coming into the team and regularly scoring. Having said that, it was great to see her add to her tally.  

“Hannah was 17 today and came off the bench to score her first National League goal. It’s a squad game and the whole team are really happy for her.”