Natasha Snelling scored a perfect hattrick as Norwich ran rampant in 7-0 victory over local rivals, Wymondham.
City have now gone a perfect three-wins-from-three to start the season, maintaining their position at the summit of Division One South East.
A first evening game of the season, under the lights of the Harrod Sport Arena saw yet another crowd of around 400 in attendance.
City picked up right where they left off, enjoying large spells of possession in the early stages of the game.
The first chance came in the sixth minute, as a Megan Todd cross found Natasha Snelling in the box, who failed to trouble the keeper with her header. Wymondham countered with an almost mirror-image attack, this time with a low driven cross, but a poor connection saw the effort dragged wide by Catchpole.
The following 20 minutes saw few clear-cut chances for either side, until the half-hour mark when City were awarded a penalty for a poorly timed challenge just inside the area. Megan Todd stepped over the ball and coolly slotted home into the bottom-left corner.
In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type frenzy, Norwich doubled their lead in a matter of minutes. A carbon-copy of City’s first effort of the match saw Snelling convert her header upon second asking, giving Norwich a comfortable 0-2 lead heading into half-time.
City started the second half with a high level of intensity and would have celebrated a third in the 47th minute had Snelling not been flagged for offside as she slid the ball past the keeper.
Just moments later, Snelling was through again. Russell received the ball just inside her own half and played a perfectly weighted pass through the heart of the defence to put Snelling in one-one-one, and City’s prolific forward made no mistake to make it 0-3.
Just shy of the hour-mark, Ellie Smith skipped through the midfield on one of her dazzling runs before sending Olivia Cook through down the left wing, beating the defenders for pace and slotting home for a fourth.
Five minutes later and Cook turned provider. Snelling found herself in space just inside the box and fired home for her hattrick and City’s fifth.
The game began to settle heading into the final twenty minutes as Wymondham dropped deeper.
Another miss-timed tackle on the edge of the area in the 73rd minute gave Rebecca Russell an opportunity to fire from range, having seen a first half free-kick palmed over by the keeper. This time Russell shaped up for an in-swinging cross from the left wing, but wrong footed the keeper and crept her effort inside the near post for her second in as many games.
The final moments of the game saw Wymondham get a second wind, catching City on the break on a few occasions, but to no avail. A lengthy stoppage in play due to a Wymondham injury late on, saw the game continue for 14 minutes past regulation time.
With the penultimate touch of the game, Katie Knights was brought down in the area for City’s second penalty of the game. Knights picked herself off the turf and converted for City's seventh of the night.
Norwich City return to The Nest on Sunday, September 4 to face a high-flying London Seaward.