Former Harrogate school pupil and Aston Villa star Rachel Daly leading race for golden boot in Barclays Women's Super League after stunning hat-trick

The 31-year-old, who was born in Harrogate, helped Aston Villa to a 5-0 win against Reading on Sunday, putting her on 20 goals for the season.

Daly also bagged herself two assists and she is now leading the race to the golden boot ahead of second-place Khadija Shaw of Manchester City who has scored 18.

Speaking after the match, Rachel said: “Coming to Reading isn’t easy because they are in a dog fight towards the bottom end of the league so we knew it was going to be tough.

"That was special today, it was a great team performance and I think everyone had a fantastic game.

"I never want to stop, I always want to keep scoring and if I am scoring goals then it hopefully means that the team is winning.

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"I was actually really happy with the two assists that I got today and I think for me that was important because I’ve been involved in a lot of goals but not really getting any assists so it was nice to give back to the girls that keep giving to me.”

Aston Villa currently sit fifth in the Barclays Women's Super League with two games remaining against Liverpool and Arsenal.

The England International will be hoping to book her spot on the plane for the FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer, with the team set to be announced by head coach Sarina Wiegman in the coming weeks.

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