Chard began the new year exactly as they intend to continue, delivering a confident and well-earned 5–1 victory home to Exeter.

The opening stages saw Chard on the front foot, with Harriet and debutant Molly causing constant problems down the wings. Up front, the partnership of Maisie and Izzie worked tirelessly and were unfortunate not to open the scoring early, creating chaos in the Exeter defence.

The breakthrough came when substitute Summer made an immediate impact. Collecting the ball on the edge of the circle, she drove past the defence and calmly slotted past the keeper to make it 1–0.

Chard quickly doubled the lead when a strong pass from Nepheli picked out Summer, who clinically finished her second of the game.

Despite Chard’s dominance, Exeter managed to pull one back before half time after a one-on-one break, leaving the score 2–1 at the interval.

A reshuffle at half time saw Layla and Sian join Ruby and Angel in defence, with Caitlyn and Frankie moving into midfield. The new back line proved solid, dealing comfortably with Exeter’s attacks and successfully defending a number of short corners.

Chard extended their lead when Maisie broke down the right wing and crossed to Harriet at the top of the D, whose pass found captain Frankie at the back post for a composed finish.

Further pressure followed, and after several near misses from short corners, following a strong injection, Layla received the ball back from Nepheli and, from a tight angle, fired the ball into the back corner for a superb fourth goal.

Capping off a Man of the Match performance in central midfield, Nepheli scored Chard’s fifth and final goal to seal an emphatic 5–1 win.

A strong team performance and the perfect start to the new year for Chard Ladies 2s.