Trelawney one Paignton Ladies 1 Tavistock Ladies 2 Tavistock travelled away for this last fixture of the season needing a win to either retain their second position in the league or even win it, depending on the top team's result. Paignton started out strongly and had numerous attacking runs up the pitch but were blocked out by the strong defending of Tavistock's Laura Stapleton and Susannah Boulle. Jenny Pollock out on left defence stuck to Paignton's roaming forward and help take her out of the game. However, it was Paignton who scored first from an uncleared penalty corner. Chloe Bassett, who had stepped up this week to play in goal for the first team, made some fine saves throughout the game. Tavistock then began to settle and worked the ball well up the pitch. Nikki Woodroffe along with Sarah Barratt worked tirelessly through the middle to feed the ball to the forwards and created scoring chances for themselves. The visitors were awarded a number of short corners and it was from one of these that Tavistock levelled the score. A superb strike by Woodroffe rattled the back boards. At half time the score was still level. The second half opened with Tavistock the more attacking team. Lisa Butler worked hard to cut out Paignton's attacks and drove the ball up the pitch, linking with Sarah Holton playing out on the right. Tavistock switched the ball more to the left and Laura Armstrong deftly ran the ball around the Paignton defence. Time was ticking on and after much persistence Tavistock took the lead. A strong strike from the right across the circle was picked up by Armstrong who fired the ball into the back of the net. Judy Miller worked hard at the front picking up many of the through balls and was always in the opposition's circle ready to capitalise on any strikes. Paignton continued to pressurise the Tavistock goal with some penetrating play but the whole team dug deep to keep Paignton from scoring. Paignton were awarded a number of short corners during the second half which were all well defended. Jo Gaspar worked well up front, through middle field and helped to defend when necessary. It was a relief when the final whistle blew with Tavistock retaining the lead. At this point the team knew they had secured second place but later found out that the top team had lost, thereby making Tavistock winners of South Division. This is a tremendous achievement for Tavistock as they were only promoted this season. To win the league in their first season has certainly exceeded all their expectations and the team are rightly proud of themselves. Team: Susannah Boulle, Laura Stapleton, Jenny Pollack, Lisa Butler, Sarah Holton, Nikki Woodroffe, Sarah Barratt, Laura Armstrong, Judy Miller, Jo Gaspar, Chloe Bassett.
