By Paul Brown

Hotshot Villa Ladies striker Carly Davies is hoping to take her phenomenal pre-season goalscoring form into the term opener against Watford Ladies...and beyond.

Ladies No.9 Davies has slotted home four goals in five games and is eager to continue in that vein during 2012-13, starting on Sunday as the Hornets visit Villa's Boldmere St Michaels home ground.

Davies attributes her form in front of goal to fine service from midfield and manager Joe Hunt's well-honed football philosophy.

Davies, 26, said: "The team has some great midfielders and top wingers and the way Joe has set up to play enables me to play to my strengths.

"The game I play is being on the shoulder of defenders and getting in and behind them.

"Scoring goals in pre-season like I have always gives you masses of confidence going into the season for real. I am happy with the start I've had and the team has had.

"It's obviously the first game of the season this weekend. Scoring a goal in that would be brilliant to spark me for the rest of the campaign.

"Having scored four in five pre-season, it's now about taking that on and putting it into practice in the games that matter.

"If I can do that or just do my job as a holding forward to bring the other attacking players in, that would be great. Contributing to the team is more important than scoring myself, obviously.

"If you're working hard, doing what's asked and getting your rewards too, it's a fantastic feeling.

"I want to take my form into the season proper and hopefully that feeds into the other players, who've also had a top pre-season.

"Obviously with some top-quality youngsters around us, who've come up from the centre of excellence, it's important the seniors like me are doing the right things and leading by example."

Davies insists morale in high ahead of the campaign opener on Sunday.

The fearsome forward, who's been at Villa for 11 seasons, says that's felt throughout the squad and also on a personal level.

She continued: "We are all positive. We have added to the squad with some really good girls coming out of the centre of excellence.

"There are some strong kids in there, surrounded by some good experience too.

"We are looking forward to it. We've had a positive pre-season with some good results. We're feeling good.

"I didn't have a great season last time around. I was in and out of the team.

"But Joe coming in has been a positive because he knows the strengths of the players individually and as a team because he's been involved with Villa for a number of years.

"The positive vibes he's bringing in are flowing into training, pre-season games and I'm hopeful that it will continue against Watford and onwards. We're positive and confident as a group."

Davies insists she's got an extra buzz going into the season opener after watching the marvellous Olympics, where Team GB shone.

Noted for some tremendous performances from top ladies Jessica Ennis, Jade Jones, Victoria Pendleton and Laura Trott, Davies admits her female pride as well as national fervour flared up during the capital extravaganza.

She added: "The whole nation was inspired by the Olympics. Seeing the female competitors do well was fantastic.

"Watching Jessica Ennis receive her gold medal was the biggest thing for me throughout the entire games. I felt so proud and inspired.

"The effort she's put in throughout the years has paid off, big-time. The emotion you saw, you can relate to that when you're working so hard like the girls have done pre-season and also with what we've done in the past few seasons in terms of promotions and doing well in the cup competitions.

"The Olympics will have inspired us to dig even deeper and work even harder."

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