Reggae Girl Shania Hayles has joined her more illustrious Jamaica teammates Khadija Shaw and Drew Spence in blazing a goal-scoring trail in England’s women’s second tier.
The 22-year-old continued her superb start to the season by netting her sixth goal in seven games as Bristol City stayed top of the FA Women’s Championship with a 2-0 at Charlton Athletic.
Hayles headed Bristol into the lead on 24 minutes after goalkeeper Sian Rogers’ heroics in goal had kept the visitors at bay, but a succession of corners eventually paid off.
Rogers could only palm away Chloe Mustaki’s delivery and Hayles got up well to nod the loose ball into the far corner of the net.
Defensive errors gave City more chances in the second half which led to Ffion Morgan’s goal doubling the lead on 67 minutes.
The victory was revenge for City after losing both games to Charlton last term, but at The Oakwood on Sunday, Lauren Smith’s side stuck to their game plan, kept their composure and were able to outbattle the hosts to stay unbeaten for the season.
“Thoroughly delighted again, we’ve done the business at both ends with two goals and then the clean sheet and going home with the three points, which is excellent,” Smith said.
“Charlton were the team that took all the points off us last year so this was a big game for us because we know they come and disrupt games, they want to play long and we showed that we can get the ball down, deal with the long ball and go into the fight.”
Shania Hayles, who was born in the Staffordshire market town of Burton-on-Trent, played for the England Under-19s in 2018, but switched her allegiance to the Reggae Girlz last year.
Midfielder Spence bagged a brace for Tottenham Hotspur in their 8-0 Women’s Super League (WSL) win at Brighton & Hove Albion at the weekend – which led to manager Hope Powell stepping down after five years in charge of the club.
Also at the weekend, Shaw netted her eighth goal in all competitions this term, including six in the WSL, as Manchester City edged Liverpool 2-1.
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