Barbra Banda continued her fine start as she bagged a brace in Shanghai Shengli's 4-1 victory over Changchun Dazhong Zhouyue in a Chinese Women's Super League contest on Wednesday.
The Zambia international hit the ground running on her first appearance as she scored one and assisted twice in Shanghai's 5-0 thrashing of Zhejiang Hangzhou in their opening match last Sunday.
The 20-year-old striker made the team following her fine display against Zhejiang and she made the most of her presence on the pitch for her side as they maintained their winning run.
Shanghai were seeking to build on their opening big win and they found an early breakthrough through Banda after she cleverly stole the ball from a Changchun defender to score in the fifth minute.
The last-season runners-up pushed further for more goals and were gifted the second of the match after Lei Jiahui turned in a cross from Zhang Xin into her own net before the half time break.
After the break, Changchun finally broke the defensive resolve of Shanghai when captain Rafaelle beat goalkeeper Ding Xuan to score from a free-kick and reduce the deficit to one.
However, Shanghai recovered their two-goal lead when Shen Mengyu's cross was brilliantly lashed in by Tang Jiali before Banda outran Huang Wang to complete the hiding in the 78th minute.
After two games, Zambia star Banda, who was in action from the start to the finish against Changchun, has now scored three goals and contributed two assists for Shanghai this season.
The win keeps Shanghai at the top of the Chinese log with six points from two matches, holding a two-goal advantage over second-placed Jiangsu Suning despite being tied on points.
Leaders Shanghai will aim to maintain their lead at the top when they battle Guangdong Meizhou Huijun in their next Chinese top-flight fixture on August 29.
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