Tavistock Ladies 1st XI 3 Essanians 6 TAVISTOCK Ladies 1st XI Hockey team played their last friendly before the league matches start this week. Essanians had some good moves and quick passes but the sturdiness of the defensive midfield play kept the opposition away from the ?D?. The forwards were having a struggle to link together as Essanians were quick to put pressure upon them as soon as they had possession of the ball. It was not long before the opposition scored a well executed goal. Tavistock kept working hard and with Julia Firth and Robynne Honey battling well and trying to find space to run into the ball was soon fed up to the running play of Laura Armstrong who slotted the ball easily past the keeper. Tavistock were more of the attacking team but could not find the back of the net as the early shot on goal was not executed when in the ?D?. The opposition saw the break and once again scored a shot right down the side of the goal. Tavistock fought back again and it was Firth who scored next for Tavistock from a rebound ball in the ?D?. Unfortunately Tavistock could not capitalise on the numerous short corners awarded to them and Essanians took advantage of this by taking the early ball and thus allowing them time and space for players to run into on the pitch. With only a few minutes of what seemed an endless first half, the opposition scored again. Boulle kept working hard and coupled with Bull and Barratt this trio of players enabled the ball to be sent to the forwards for Honey to take a strike at the keeper. Once again Firth got the rebound to equal the score at half-time at 3-3. The second half saw Tavistock battling well. Despite Tavistock lifting their game to the highest possible standard so did Essanians and unfortunately they scored three more goals. These goals were not scored easily and after the game, Essanians did remark about tough they found the match. This was not a disappointing result as Essanians are in a higher league. This was an excellent wake up call for the Tavistock team before their first league match which is at home, Bickleigh Barracks, at 12.30pm playing St Agnes.
