Vale took the lead only for Chard to equalise when Rachel Ireland-Jones burst through the centre of midfield and slotted the ball to Ruth Butcher who made no mistake in firing into the bottom corner.

But the visitors regained the lead early in the second half with a strike from the edge of D. Back came Chard and Ireland-Jones and Butcher linked again and the latter scored her second of the match to make it 2-2.

However, a string of short corners eventually led to Taunton taking the lead for the third time in the match only for Butcher to complete her hat trick after more good work from Ireland-Jones.

The winner came when defender Lorraine Szczepanski, found Player-of-the-Match Butcher who hammered the ball into the net to put Chard ahead for the first time and they held on to clinch the win ahead of next weekend’s visit by Burnham-on-Sea for another must-win game in their bid to avoid relegation.