On a damp and dismal day, it rained goals for Romford’s women as they progressed to the next round of the League Cup with an emphatic 7-1 victory at Chigwell.  

Manager Jason Murray has had selection problems in recent weeks, switching full-back Shannon Simpson to striker and promoting Izzy Kearns from the under-16 girls' side.

Kearns, aged 16 years and six days, became the youngest player to appear for Boro women’s first teama and repaid Murray’s faith with a competent and composed debut as Simpson, along with top goalscorer Claire Huggins, proved too hot to handle. 

Huggins opened the scoring as she finished off a move straight from kick-off with a shot from the corner of the six-yard box.

And she was on the scoresheet again after 14 minutes as she picked up a loose clearance, skipped past three defenders and slammed a fine long-range effort inside the post.

Boro added a brilliant third when Paulina Saviciute and Loren Whyte combined to free Huggins on the right and her cross was swept in by Simpson.  

A rare Chigwell attack saw Chloe Eastwell clear off the line with Boro's defence largely untroubled and Huggins completed her hat-trick 10 minutes after the break, pouncing on another loose pass on the edge of the box and drilling home.

Simpson was on hand to convert a goalmouth scramble three minutes later, but the hosts kept battling and finished a counter-attack at the far post to make it 5-1.

Huggins grabbed her fourth straight from the restart after latching on to a Kierra Gabriel through ball and rifling home, before Kearns capped an impressive debut by combining with Simpson to create the seventh goal for Sharmari Crawford, whose excellent looping header put the stamp on a fine afternoon’s work.

Murray gave Lily Stuart-Evans, 16, her debut in the last 20 minutes and said: "We're all really pleased for Claire as she's been brilliant and that was a virtuoso performance.

"I'm also delighted with the maturity of Izzy and Lily stepping up and adapting so well to senior football. Our Academy continues to produce excellent players and that's really exciting". 

Boro return to league action with a huge game against leaders Chelmsford City at Rookery Hill on Sunday.