ON Saturday, Tavistock Ladies' 1st Xl Hockey team played a non-league fixture against Newton Abbot. With regular players missing, the team were reliant on second team players to fill the gaps.
The game opened with Tavistock on the attack and all over the opposition.
Fiona Dunn had some excellent runs up the pitch and was well supported by Laura Stapleton and Steph Mills.
The ball was crossed into the 'D', Gill Court and Judy Miller were hungry for a goal.
The ball was rebounded out but Tavistock were unable to get on the end of it and the ball was crossed over to the other side of the pitch. Kate Eadie had another good game on the left.
She marked out players and was quick to intercept the ball and feed it back through to Laura Armstrong who was definitely on top form. Jo Gaspar was playing well and extremely strong in her feeding of the ball.
It was through Gaspar that a short corner was awarded to Tavistock. Armstrong fed a good ball out and Stapleton struck it hard and determined past the keeper. With heads high, Tavistock were hungry for another goal. Lisa Butler battled well and was able to link with Mills and Gaspar.
A free hit was awarded to Tavistock, Stapleton struck the ball past the defence and Gaspar was able to slide it past the keeper.
The few times that Newton Abbot did come into Tavistock's 'D', Babs Horton cleared it every time and keeper, Soozi Bags, kept a watchful eye on roaming players.
Just before half-time, Gaspar suffered quite a severe injury to her shoulder and although she battled on in the second half she was not the same player.
The opposition came out hard in the second half of the match and it was a case of being outnumbered in the 'D' that allowed them to score.
Tavistock were finding that they were now playing more of a defensive game rather than attacking. Court and Eadie continued to mark up players and Stapleton, Dunn and Armstrong had some good linking play. Tavistock were awarded more short corners but could not find the back of the net, Stapleton missing by inches.
As a result of Gaspar's injury, Dunn found herself pushing more up the pitch and supporting on short corners. A first for this player!
Tavistock continued to play well and despite not scoring again they were happy with the final result of 2-1.
A win was needed for the team as it brought everyone back on track and much more focussed for next week's league match against Plymouth & Marjons 3rd XI.
The match is at home at Bickleigh Barracks with a 12.30pm start.
Tavistock: Soozi Baggs, Babs Horton, Fiona Dunn (Captain), Steph Mills, Laura Stapleton, Gill Court, Kate Eadie, Laura Armstrong, Lisa Butler, Judy Miller, Jo Gaspar.
Player of The Match: Laura Armstrong