Vicky Ashton-Jones will not forget last Sunday’s night shift with Kent Police for a while.

She turned up for work at 9pm as a winning club captain in Women’s Super League 2.

The Seagulls are up and running in the second tier with a 1-0 win at Aston Villa.

Ashton-Jones missed the pre-match overnight stay after working until 11pm on Saturday.

She drove herself up to Tamworth on Sunday morning, played the match and was back in time for work in the evening.

It was not the first time she had done such a thing – but this one was special given the result.

She told The Argus: “I think we probably deserved the three points.

“We had more opportunities compared to Aston Villa so, on that basis, I think we deserved it.”

Ini Umotong scored the only goal on her debut while new goalkeeper Lucy Gillett also got off to a great start.

Ashton-Jones said: “It is always nice as a defender to start with a clean sheet.

“Villa put about five up front and were lumping in crosses near the end.

“We were so grateful for Lucy coming out time after time to take crosses.

“She is tall and commanding and you have every confidence she will come and take balls like that.”

With the win secured, Ashton-Jones knew she had to get back to Kent for the 9pm shift.

Her longest day eventually ended at 7am on Monday.

She said: “I did the warm down with the girls, got changed and set off.

“The traffic on the M1 was a nightmare but the drive home and the night shift didn’t faze me.

“I do it quite regularly, it wasn’t a one-off.

“The fact it was on the first day of the season and we had a good win meant it probably meant more to me.

“Fortunately my colleague did the driving on our rounds during the night and it was all right, it was do-able.”

Tamworth is about as far as Ashton-Jones can go if she wants to play without taking time off work.

She books annual holiday for some fixtures and is grateful to her bosses for their flexibility.

But it begs the question: Would she like to play football for a living?

The FA yesterday announced a major revamp of the women’s club pyramid with a top tier of 14 full-time teams planned for the start of next season.

She said: “It is a tricky one. I’ve played for a long time and I would love to give it a go.

“I’m 30 now so I’m not old but I’m not a young player either. Given the opportunity, I think I would do everything I could to experience being a full-time professional footballer before I stopped playing.

“But, at the same time, I’ve got to think about my career because that is what being a police officer is to me – it’s a career.

“They have been very flexible with me. In fact, we help each other. But turning pro is certainly something I would like to try.”