Chard Ladies 4 Winscombe Ladies 3 - WINSCOMBE prepared and started the match well, dominating most of the play in the first half.

Chard Ladies 4

Winscombe Ladies 3

WINSCOMBE prepared and started the match well, dominating most of the play in the first half.

Two counter-attacks by Chard, however, against the run of play saw the visitors trailing by two goals at half-time.

In the second half, Winscombe were able to make their earlier domination of play pay off with two early goals bringing the score level after 10 minutes. The first goal saw player of the match Kelly Clark receive the ball, enter the D and fire a hard shot goalwards, finding the net after a deflection by a Chard defender.

The second goal came from good build-up and passing play by Winscombe, with captain and centre forward Fran Taylor taking full advantage of the new ruling which allows a player to take a free hit to themselves. Fran caught the opposition off guard as she dribbled into the D and created a clear chance to slot the ball home.

The match then began to resemble the first half with Chard scoring yet another breakaway goal, in spite of wave after wave of Winscombe attacking play.

A Winscombe equaliser soon followed with left-back Amy Izzard making a surging run from defence into the attacking 25, her cross finding Kate Burdge on the penalty spot, who coolly netted.

Winscombe pressed hard for a winner. Charlie Edwards, Holly Freemantle, Vicky Bird and keeper Kate Walker worked really hard to defend the Winscombe goal but unfortunately, this was not to be Winscombe's day, with Chard disappointingly scoring the winning goal two minutes from time.

New hockey players are most welcome to come along to training, goalkeepers or aspiring keepers are particularly welcome. The first two training sessions are tasters and are free of charge. For further details please contact secretary@winscombehockey.com or telephone Kate on 07790 812356.

Weston 2nd XI 2

Winscombe 2nd XI 2

THE game started fairly evenly, but that is not to say that both the local rivals were not up for winning all three points.

Winscombe seemed to take possession in the early stages, and were rewarded with a number of shots and short corners. However, they could not take advantage and the tides soon turned.

For Weston, Charlotte Gordon's young legs made her quick to the ball from her left back position to disperse numerous Winscombe attacks and Lynne Fryer and Gill Rylance worked hard in the midfield to feed the Weston forwards. After a couple of attempts, Lauren Simms attacked the baseline and injecting the ball to the penalty spot for Jenny Purcell to fire wide.

Weston piled on pressure from the hit-out to force an error from the Winscombe defence and Simms had a one-on-one with the goalkeeper who saved the initial shot, but Stacey Caple capitalised on the rebound to open the scoring for the home team.

At half time the score was still 1-0 to Weston, but shortly after the restart, they scored again when Claire Westgate joined the Weston forward line to pile pressure on the away team and made several runs down the right as did Shelley Parkins down the left, and Simms combined well with Abi Smith and ran 50 metres before scoring.

Winscombe showed strong determination, to fight their way back into the game, despite the efforts of defender Jeanete Bokacz and keeper Jo Sawtell. and eventually they found a lifeline; Gail Izzard scored making it 2-1.

With two minutes left before the end, Nicki Mills made a brilliant pass across the area to Ella Horwood on the back post, who swept it in on her reverse stick. It looked like another was on the way, but the final whistle blew, much to Combe's disappointment.

After what was a competitive match, to say the least, Winscombe were pleased to achieve the first point of the season. Player of the match for Weston was Lauren Simms and for Winscombe, Nicki Mills.