Okehampton ladies 4 Tavistock Ladies 5 WITH this being the first league fixture for both hockey teams and a local derby it was always going to be a hard fought, closely contested match. The visitors quickly found their rhythm and caught Okehampton off guard with Becky Lamb scoring their opening goal within the first few minutes. Tavistock seized the opportunity to double their lead when they were awarded a short corner — Sarah Law slotting home. Okehampton began to find their flow and countered a couple of times but it was not until Tavistock scored their third goal through Laura Armstrong that Oke picked themselves up to rise to the challenge. The home side put the visitors under pressure resulting in a shot on goal being stopped by a Tavistock foot on the line. Jo Moppett stepped up to place the penalty flick past the keeper. With confidence boosted the Oke ladies worked hard with swift movement and strong support play through the midfield, Joey Drake, Kim Davey, Hannah Whiteley and Molly Petherbridge. The Tavistock defence were determined to make the forwards work for any gain and the second goal for Okehampton came from a short corner finished by Moppett just before halftime. The second half started with both teams eager to dominate. Oke had the edge pushing Tavistock back into their own half with Ailsa Gibb and Lottie Rademaker proving their worth and creating some great opportunities in their first league appearance for the Oke first team. Okehampton added two more goals — both from short corners, one more for Moppett and then a beautifully placed ball from Jane Jones to Kim Davey whose sweet strike powered home, putting the home side in front for the first time. Tavistock rallied to test the Oke defence. Keeper Shannon Osman made a number of great saves and defenders Katie Adams, Nicola Stoneman, Jane Jones and Rachel Hammett absorbed a sustained period of attack before Tavistock equalised when a strong Tavistock cross from Jo Gaspar took a deflection off an Oke stick. With the score tied coming into the last five minutes, both teams had everything to play for. With an Oke player off in the sinbin Tavistock took advantage, with Robynne Fenwick slotting home the winning goal just as the final whistle blew. Sidmouth and Ottery ladies 2 Oke ladies seconds 4 OKEHAMPTON took a while to settle down and were caught on the hop when two Sidmouth forwards broke through their defence and scored the first goal of the match. Undeterred, the visitors continued in good spirits and Emma Wiseman often found space on the right wing to gain ground into the attacking circle. Eventually, a chance for a goal came when a Sidmouth defender fouled in the circle; the umpire played the advantage and Alex Collins quickly struck hard at goal sending the ball between the keeper's legs. Confidence started to flow and another goal soon followed for Oke when Viv Weatherington passed a free ball into the circle allowing Collins to quickly get her stick onto it past the goalie. Well into the swing of things a third goal came when a pass was made to Weatherington who quickly moved into the circle making the shot to leave Okehampton 3-1 up at half time. In the second half Oke continued to dominate the game. However, Sidmouth never gave up and were able to create space in their attacking circle and skilfully flick the ball into the goal with a reverse stick. Sidmouth started to put the Oke defence under pressure, but strong defending by Louise Weller and good goalkeeping by Alice Wiseman, who made a one on one save, prevented Sidmouth from any more goals. Near the end Annabel Rademaker made a lovely strike at goal which came off the keeper's pads. This left Collins a chance to push the ball over the line scoring her third goal of the match and a well-deserved 4-2 win for Okehampton!