Barking & Dagenham's district girls quickly hit their stride in the opening match of their delayed season with a 9-0 win over Tower Hamlets.

Four goals for Nortbury’s Ganiyat Jimoh, braces for Gracie Jones and Rehema Okungu, along with skipper Marcheri Sherrif’s long-range effort gave the hosts the ideal confidence boost ahead of their national cup tie with Bexley next week.

Jimoh opened the scoring early on, pouncing on a loose ball in the box to force the ball home.

And the lead was doubled in the seventh minute when Jimoh chased down a lost cause to tackle the visiting keeper and convert for 2-0.

Barking & Dagenham continued to probe as Jones and Rihanna Zahman went close and the former stretched the lead on 14 minutes with a cool first-time finish, cutting in from the right to bury a loose clearance.

Moments later, it was 4-0 as Sherrif’s marauding run into the danger zone saw a panicked away defence fail to clear their lines and Okungu swept the ball in from inches out.

Jimoh’s hat-trick was secured just before the midway mark with her most impressive finish of the day. Tobechukwu Edoka’s long ball from the back bounced perfectly for a first-time, lofted effort to loop perfectly over the helpless keeper and into the far corner.

The hosts then spurned a raft of chances, as Eva Young, Aysia Matabaro, Sherrif and Jones all fired wide, but with 12 minutes left they rammed home their advantage.

The imposing Sherrif lashed an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net from 25 yards and Matabaro saw her effort charged down, only for Jimoh to profit from the rebound for her fourth.

Matabaro was at the heart of the action again moments later, sprinting clear on the right to centre for opposite number Okungu as she drifted in from the left.

The scoring was wrapped up by Jones whose cross-cum-shot found its way in for her fourth district goal.

It was an encouraging start for the new-look side as they embark on a condensed and congested run of fixtures over the next few months. With this performance as their starting point, there is much to indicate that there is much to look forward to in the games to come.

Barking & Dagenham: Tobechukwu Edoka (George Carey), Ganiyat Jimoh (Northbury), Gracie Jones (Grafton), Aysia Matabaro (Roding), Chi-Chi Musa-Onyeka (St Peter’s), Rehema Okungu (George Carey), Marcheri Sherrif (Grafton), Dalia Wyszczelska (Hunters Hall), Eva Young (Hunters Hall), Rihanna Zaman (Hunters Hall).