Stone Hockey Club Ladies 1st team secured a 4-2 win over Harborne Ladies 2nds to place themselves well in their fight for promotion.
On a cold early evening at their Anson Lane ground in Aston, Stone started off the stronger of the two teams, putting together fast, high-quality passes and immediately placing the Harborne defence under pressure. On the five-minute mark, Annie Holmes broke free in the middle of the pitch and released the ball to Debs Wood in the ‘D’ who finished clinically to put the Enson Lane side ahead 1-0.
Harborne responded and quickly pressurised Stone but the solid defence led by Megan Sanders at sweeper stood strong. Against the run of play, following a mid-pitch interception,
Holmes picked up the ball and released to Wood on the left of the pitch. Woods fired the ball across the goal line to the waiting Beth Borbas to knock in on the far post.
Just before half time, Holmes again picked up the ball half way up the pitch and completely a fantastic solo run, skilfully taking on numerous players and expertly slotting the ball past the Harborne keeper to place the Enson Lane side 3-0 up at half time.
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Harborne started the second half strongly and were able to get a goal on the break early in the half to narrow the deficit to 3-1. With pressure on, Stone dug deep to maintain the
score line. Excellent strength and commitment by the midfield trio of Bex Ward, Enya Collier and Sally Tyler prevented any Harborne breaks.
Stone weren’t finished there and when the ball was picked up in midfield, the pass found Borbas up front who slotted the ball skilfully past the Harborne keeper to take Stone to 4-
1 up. In the final few minutes, Harborne managed to score a second from a short corner to finish the match 4-2.
[box type=”info” align=”aligncenter” ]This win moves Stone up to joint first in the league. Stone face Telford and Wrekin in their next game at home on Saturday 7th November.[/box]
