Tavistock Ladies 1st XI 1 Exeter 3rd XI 0 WITH this being the last match before Christmas and Tavistock desperately needing to play well, the team welcomed the young blood of Francesca and Gabriella Murphy. These two players were making their debut performances for the team and were a much needed asset. The game opened with Tavistock heavy on the attack but at the same time defending well. Captain, Fiona Dunn, was in goal due to no other goalkeeper being available. Laura Stapleton and Lisa Butler were a welcome relief at the back for Dunn as they kept the ball out of the ?D? without any major attack. Francesca Murphy made some brilliant interceptions and kept strong when being tackled by the opposition. Tavistock had a couple of short corners awarded to them but unfortunately were unable to capitalise on these and the ball was fed back down the pitch. Sandra Collar had a good game and picked up free players and kept them wide thus preventing them from entering the ?D?. Gabriella Murphy was also strong in midfield and was able to feed the ball to the running play of Laura Armstrong and Susannah Boulle. Gabriella was keen to take on players and hassle them and hold them up before she went in to take the ball straight off their stick! Honey worked well on the wing and was able to make passes between White and Gaspar in order to move the ball up the pitch. Dunn had to make a couple of saves allowing the score to be kept at 0-0 at half-time. The second half saw a much more determined Tavistock team with Armstrong making excellent runs up the pitch taking the ball into the ?D?. Unfortunately the ball was always taken from her just before she was about to take the shot or pass the ball. The defence of Collar, Stapleton and the two Murphy girls were playing very well and keeping strong in their tackles. This resulted in White, Boulle and Butler pushing up the pitch to back up the play of Honey, Miller and Gaspar. Gaspar hit the ball into the ?D? and Miller took it on the reverse stick to slot it past the keeper. With only minutes to go a short corner was awarded to Exeter. The strike came from top ?D? but Dunn cleared the ball for Murphy (senior) to play the ball out wide. The final score was 1-0 to Tavistock, a much needed win before Christmas with much needed young blood who want to fight for a position in the squad. Player of the match: Francesca Murphy.
