Chelmsford City made the long journey to Norfolk for a mid-morning kick off on Sunday and recorded a resounding victory on a bumpy pitch to stay top of the league.

A superb display of passing football by City saw them dominate from the opening whistle, and Sue Osborne headed home a Paula Drane corner in the second minute.

Osborne extended the lead on 23 minutes, after being set up by Lisa Blundell and on 28 minutes Keisha Featonby opened her account by reacting to a rebound after Carly Manns' shot had hit the crossbar.

Blundell supplied a good pass to Featonby for City's fourth goal on the half hour and moments later defender Jane Shepherd went close following a mazy run from her own penalty area.

Osborne completed her hat-trick with five minutes of the half remaining, heading a cross by Featonby past the goalkeeper.

On the stroke of half-time, Julie Purdon saw her shot rebound off the post and Sarah Gammon was on hand to slot the ball home to make it 6-0 at the break.

Five minutes after the restart, Drane's cross was touched on by Osborne and Purdon drove a shot into the net via a post and on 63 minutes, Featonby slid in at the far post to convert a Purdon cross.

Blundell then supplied a pass, which opened up the space for Drane to open her account and moments later the home keeper had a moment of madness by pushing Purdon on the floor but the resultant penalty went wide of the post.

After 71 minutes Blundell capped an inspirational performance by crashing a shot from 25 yards through a crowded area and into the net.

Four minutes later, Angelina Robinson provided a pass to Drane who turned sharply to drive a shot past the keeper and the scoring was completed on 79 minutes with Drane netting her hat-trick goal after meeting a Manns pass.

With City's two nearest rivals at the top of the table also winning, it remains tight with three games remaining and all the top three teams still to play each other.

Chelmsford City: Bridgeman, Marshall, Shepherd, Osborne, Blundell, Robinson, Gammon (Harris), Featonby, Drane, Purdon and Manns.

City's fixtures for Sunday, April 11 are: First team v Colchester United (h) at Writtle College, Lordship Road kick off 2 pm; Under 14s v Maldon Saints (h) at Writtle College kick off 2.15 pm; Under 13s Cougars v Chalvedon Chimes (a) and Under 12s v Maldon Saints (a).

Paula Drane, who netted a hat-trick in Chelmsford City's 12-0 thrashing of Norwich United.

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