Chippenham 1

Tavistock Ladies' 1st XI 1

AFTER a long drive up the motorway, Tavistock arrived at Chippenham Hockey Club and with only ten players for the match, knew it was going to be tough

Tavistock had to work hard to pick up the roaming players who were always free.Laura Stapleton and Jo Gaspar had an excellent game in midfield and worked hard to prevent the attack from coming through the middle.

The defensive line up of Jenny Pollock, Lisa Butler and Fiona Dunn worked their socks off to stop any direct strikes at goal and to keep the opposition out of the D.

Chippenham were awarded numerous short corners but were unable to capitalise on them due to the strong play of the defence and to Zoe Viggers goalkeeper, who had an excellent game.

Laura Armstrong worked hard in midfield and switched the ball over to the running play of Claire Bruna, who had some unlucky mistakes in the first half but a terrific second half.

Anna Balm did her job as midfield in a calm and collected manner and was strong in marking up players.

At half-time the scoreline was 0-0. A few green cards had been distributed between both teams and Tavistock knew they had to keep their formation and hold strong in the opening minutes of the second-half.

The opposition came out strongly, broke through and scored an early goal. Tavistock kept on battling and played really good hockey as a team.

Bruna drove the ball up the pitch and round players and started to make attacks in the D. This allowed a few short corners to be awarded to Tavistock as Stapleton also pushed hard in the attacking D.

The first few corners Tavistock were unfortunate on but the third was brilliant. A good ball out to Gaspar allowed her to strike a dominant ball past the keeper.

Chippenham tried to battle back but Tavistock were dominant and kept them around the 25-yard line and not in the D. There was a scuffle in the D and a penalty flick was awarded against Tavistock. But Viggers rose to the occasion and saved the shot on goal.

This again brought more strength to the team and after the opposition's captain had been sent off, it also brought the numbers equal. When the final whistle went Tavistock were pleased with their efforts and felt a moral victory had been achieved.

This week Tavistock play a friendly against Dart at Ivybridge at noon.