Tavistock Ladies 1st XI 0

Isca 9

THE Ladies played at Exeter University against Isca ? three leagues above Tavistock ? in a Devon Cup match.

Isca opened heavy on the attack and the defensive play of Susannah Boulle, Laura Stapleton, Lisa Butler and Fiona Dunn was really put to the test.

Isca scored two goals within the first ten minutes of the game but Becky Pitts, Sarah Barratt and Robynne Honey made some excellent linking passes to each other through the gaps on the pitch. Butler and Boulle continued to battle out wide and Stapleton and Dunn stood firm in the ?D?. A short corner was awarded to the opposition from which they scored an excellent shot at goal. When Tavistock did clear the ball out, Louise Bott and Julia Firth ran their socks off out wide in order to keep the ball wide before feeding it back through the middle to Jo Gaspar and Laura Armstrong.

A ball was lifted too high into the ?D? and hit Dunn to create a nice shape of a ball on her thigh! Minutes later Dunn was hit again on the leg by the same player.

With the ball being lifted high into the ?D? Tavistock started to backtrack a player in the hope that they would not take a straight shot at goal. This was working well until a rogue player from the opposition lifted a ball to hit Stapleton in the side of the head. With 10 miutes left in the first half, Stapleton left the pitch and did not return to play.

At half-time the score was 5-0 but Tavistock was playing some really good hockey and trying to mirror image what Isca were doing as they were playing some excellent hockey. Tavistock made life a bit harder in the second half of the match and Isca were having to fight a bit more in order to secure more goals. Viggers made some excellent saves and Pitts, Butler, Dunn and Boulle were a major block of defence with Butler and Pitts covering the tackling play of Barratt and Bott.

Tavistock never gave up during the whole match which is a credit to their determination to play hockey at a high standard. Once members of the squad were able to see how Isca were using the ball to do the work, Tavistock then started to do the same and as a consequence lifted their game.

This week, Tavistock are home at Bickleigh Barracks at 12.30pm with a friendly against Teignmouth.

Tavistock Ladies 2nds 14

Mannamead 4ths 1

TAVISTOCK achieved an excellent victory in this friendly. Both teams had to battle against the elements of torrential rain and gale force winds.

Tavistock took first push back and with good passing and continuous pressure and movement built up for the first goal to be scored by Barratt within minutes. The play continued with excellent skill and teamwork from Tavistock elevating the score to 4-0.

Mannamead then got a break down the wing and managed to get around the defence leaving keeper Gem Murphy helpless to stop the strike.

Tavistock battled back to further raise the score to 7-1 at half time. The second half was faster and more harsh with both teams playing exceptionally well. However Mannamead were unable to score any more whilst Tavistock scored a further 7 goals by Barratt, Guy, Eadie and Laker.

Team: Kate Eadie, Sarah Barratt, Alice Laker, Olivia Eadie, Sarah Guy, Frankie Murphy, Anna Balm, Jenny Pollock, Cpt Nell Trotter, Amy Petts and keeper Gem Murphy.

Players of the match: Amy Petts and Sarah Guy.

l Tavistock Hockey Club have had further success this year with young players attending trials for Devon and being selected to play.

The trialists, who are from a variety of schools, include Tom and Robynne Honey, Ollie Frost, Chloe Bassett, Frankie and Gabriella Murphy, Kate and Olivia Ede, Emma Passmore and Sarah Barratt. Many of these players started with Tavistock Hockey Club at the junior training sessions.

Because of the numbers of young players wishing to play, and the opportunities for Sunday morning hockey matches, the junior training session has been moved recently from Thursday evening to Sunday morning at Kelly College Astroturf pitch from 10-11.30am.

This session is targeted at children over the age of 8 and of any ability.

Where they move on to play for one of the senior teams then training switches to the normal Thursday night session, which is also at the Kelly College Astroturf pitch from 7pm to 9pm.