Maizie Kelly scored four as Southend United Ladies won 9-0 at Hashtag United Women Development on 18 October. The victory made it three successive wins without conceding, with twelve goals scored across those matches. I would judge the improvement under interim manager Daniel Mann across that run, particularly the narrow win at AFC Sudbury Reserves that preceded this very different afternoon.
The opposition’s level matters. This was Hashtag’s Development side from Essex Division Two, distinct from their senior team and Reserves. Hashtag had won their previous four league games, scoring 20 goals. Southend made their higher level count and continued creating chances long after the result was settled.
Kelly’s finishing and the passes behind it
Sophie Stack opened the scoring after seven minutes, finishing from close range after Abbey Dell flicked on Abbie Rex’s corner. It was Stack’s third scoring game in succession, following her goals against Hutton and Sudbury. Kelly had already threatened, with captain Lily-Maye Attree clearing one early chance and another effort striking the top of the bar. Kelly’s first came from winning the ball back. Stack intercepted goalkeeper Ella Bailey’s goal-kick, Reyes Humbles helped it on and Kelly curled her finish into the top corner from around 20 yards. Her second began at the other end: Molly Lee’s goal-kick, another Dell flick and Tilly Jones’s through ball sent her clear to finish under Bailey. Southend led 3-0 at the interval.
The hat-trick arrived two minutes into the second half, following Georgia Hyland’s cross and a touch from Dell. Kelly added her fourth late on, finishing from the edge of the area after Lauren Johnson’s free-kick was headed out. Those first-half combinations also show Dell’s part in creating the chances. On the podcast, Phil and Southend defender Katie Burbridge discussed Dell’s ability to create chances even when she is not scoring. Katie’s wider point was that Southend have forwards with different strengths and need to find the right service for each of them. The sequence involving Lee, Dell and Jones for Kelly’s second was a good example of players making each other’s jobs easier.
Boyd’s influence in the middle
Phil attended at Barleylands and singled out Isobel Boyd’s work closing spaces and playing forward passes. Katie praised her strength when winning possession and her ability to spot the pass ahead. Kelly’s four will attract the attention, but I was pleased to hear that work recognised alongside them: recovering possession and using it well gives the forwards more opportunities to do their damage.
Boyd also headed Kelly’s corner in off the right post for her first Southend goal. Zoe Tryfonos had registered her first three minutes earlier, finishing after Kelly rounded Bailey and squared the ball. Hyland scored the fifth from Amber Denton’s diagonal, while Dell curled in the ninth after Kelly and Denton combined on the left. Six players scored, with five goals arriving from the 72nd minute onwards.
Mann had made four starting changes from Sudbury. Burbridge, Rex, Humbles and Morgan Fletcher came in for Johnson, Hyland, Hannah Warner and Denton. All five substitutes were then used at half-time with Southend 3-0 ahead. Hyland and Tryfonos went on to score, while Denton supplied passes for two of the late goals.
Room to improve, even at 9-0
Katie described a slower adjustment to grass than Southend wanted before they began to get their passing going. That is worth keeping alongside the early goals and chances. From a player’s perspective, there was still a standard to reach, and she saw the eventual success in front of goal as useful for the forwards’ confidence.
She also gave Hashtag credit for continuing to attack. Holly James sent a free-kick just over and released Henri McCarthy for a one-on-one before half-time. Lee narrowed the angle and McCarthy finished wide; McCarthy later hit the post. Bailey made saves and Attree continued clearing danger. Hashtag were well beaten, but they did not stop competing.
Southend’s third clean sheet was worth recognising as well as the goals. The club’s report identifies it as their first run of three consecutive clean sheets since February 2018. This was their biggest win since the 9-0 against Leigh Ramblers in December 2023, according to the same report.
Hutton next, then Rayleigh
Following Nick Sheldrick’s departure for personal reasons, Mann and Lee Skelton oversaw three wins after a run of three defeats that had brought one Southend goal. Katie linked the Sudbury win to the togetherness needed to protect that narrow lead.
Next is Hutton away in the Eastern Region Women’s Football League Plate on Sunday 25 October. Southend beat them 2-0 in the league earlier this month and now meet them again in cup football.
The reward in the BBC Essex Women’s Cup is a home second-round tie against Rayleigh Ladies on 15 November. Rayleigh play in Essex Division Three and reached this stage through 9-1 and 5-1 wins.
I want to see that confidence hold in the closer games. Southend protected a narrow lead at Sudbury; at Barleylands, the service into Kelly and the contributions of the substitutes turned control into goals.
Match details
Score: Hashtag United Women Development 0-9 Southend United Ladies. Half-time: 0-3.
Competition: BBC Essex Women’s Cup, first round. Date: Sunday 18 October 2026. Venue: Barleylands Farm (Site 2), Billericay.
Southend goals, using the club report’s timings: Sophie Stack (7); Maizie Kelly (16, 32, 47, 85); Georgia Hyland (72); Zoe Tryfonos (74); Isobel Boyd (77); Abbey Dell (89).
Southend XI: Molly Lee, Abbie Rex, Katie Burbridge, Sophie Stack, Abbey Dell (captain), Maizie Kelly, Jodie Murphy, Isobel Boyd, Tilly Jones, Reyes Humbles, Morgan Fletcher.
Southend substitutions: Lauren Johnson for Burbridge (46); Zoe Tryfonos for Stack (46); Amber Denton for Jones (46); Georgia Hyland for Humbles (46); Hannah Warner for Fletcher (46).
Hashtag XI: Lily-Maye Attree, Ella Bailey, Emily Baisden, Sophia Duggan, Charlotte Hooper, Holly James, Lily Lane, Henri McCarthy, Kamilee McCubbin, Beth Robins, Holly Whitfield.
Hashtag substitutions: Molly O’Connor for Baisden (45); Gracie Dupree for Duggan (50); Holly Fisher for Whitfield (63); Daisy Edwards for Lane (64); Millie Powell for McCubbin (64).
Attendance: Not published.
Match official: Kevin Curran.