Dartmouth ladies 0

Oke ladies’ firsts 7

OKEHAMPTON ladies’ team had a long drive down to Kingsbrige to play Dartmouth but arrived to find the pitch still frozen and a delayed pushback.

Once underway, it was a hesitant start as both teams tested their footing and the ball was skimming dangerously along the icy pitch. However, it was Okehampton who found their rhythm first and with some nifty stickwork from Jo Moppett, opened the scoring for the visitors.

Dartmouth put some good balls through to their fast forwards. The solid Oke defence of Nicola Stoneman, Amanda Sim and Nicky Pedrick dealt swiftly with the threat and moved the ball back up the pitch.

After a period of possession from Okehampton, passing the ball competently through the midfield and forwards, the ball found Anna Speak, who was perfectly positioned on the post to slot home her maiden goal for the firsts.

It was not long before the home side were putting pressure on and causing trouble in the D for Oke, forcing some short corners. Stand in keeper Carol Taylor though made some decent saves to prevent Dartmouth from converting.

The visitors sneaked in one more goal before half time as Jo Moppett and Laura Parsons linked well, slicing through the home defence for Moppett to score her second, making the score 0-3 at the break.

Dartmouth started the second half with determination; but with the ball secured by the tireless work in the midfield by Sophie Whiteley, Laura Parsons and Louise Wellar they were unable to penetrate.

Okehampton were soon on the attack again and won a short corner for their efforts. Moppett slipped the ball to Kim Davey, who fired the ball into the back of the net.

Oke were reduced to ten for a couple of minutes as a green card was shown for a deliberate foot. The home side pushed forward to capitalise on their numerical advantage but despite Dartmouth’s best effort, and with Ailsa Gibb shoring up the defence, they were not to be rewarded.

The visitors were now playing some great team hockey; slick, accurate passing and support play secured two more goals from Hannah Whiteley. Anna provided the support for Hannah’s first and deftly finished her second on the post, from a slip pass from Kim on the end of a Moppy cross.

The final whistle saw Okehampton close with a clean sheet 0-7 to the good.