Ulverston 1 South Lakes 8

SOUTH Lakes made the perfect start to their Cumbria League season with a comprehensive win against neighbours Ulverston.

Lakes – the visitors on the fixture list, though the teams share a pitch at Ulverston Leisure Centre – made a fantastic start with some neat passes.

Within two minutes, they were awarded a short corner, and player-of-the-match Rebecca Cook injected the ball to the top of the D, where captain Holly Nuttall hit a strike on goal for the opener.

South Lakes quickly won the ball back. Fantastic dribbling up the left from Emma Armstrong saw the ball played through to Nuttall, who passed into Gemma Jupp. She squared for Lois Viney to score the second with less than five minutes on the clock.

Ulverston pushed hard and tried to put their opponents under pressure, but skilful tackling from Rebekah Nuttall, who played the ball out wide to Suze Armstrong, set off a counter-attack.

Armstrong played the ball to Cook, who passed to Angela Thornton to dribble down the right wing and pass to Jupp. She played the ball into the D to Emma Armstrong, who scored the third.

Lakes again took possession, this time with a great tackle from Viney, who played out to Catherine Cooke. She dribbled up-field before passing out to Holly Nuttall, who played it back for Cooke to score with a reverse-stick hit.

A fifth was fast in following as Viney found Thornton, who dribbled down the right and played back to Cook, who pushed the ball into the D to Cooke for goal number five.

Ulverston fought hard to get into the Lakes D and got through to pull a goal back.

It was the lift they needed as they sought to put their opponents under more pressure, but it was not to last.

Lesley Davey took control from the back for South Lakes, playing the ball out to Emma Armstrong, who dribbled through to Natalie Knowles.

She found Cooke, who in turn played the ball to Jupp to win a short corner.

Cook injected the ball to Holly Nuttall, whose strike was deflected to Jupp. Her effort deflected to Knowles, who passed for Cook to finally finish and make it 6-1 at half-time.

Ulverston look to attack more in the second half, but the South Lakes defence stood strong, with good saves by Joy Potter, and Davey, Rebekah Nuttall and Suze Armstrong tackling and clearing the ball out wide.

Ulverston were awarded a short corner, but quick reactions from Potter saw her save a number of shots.

Suze Armstrong managed to clear to Cooke and another break ended with Thornton dribbling across the D to Emma Armstrong, who scored the seventh.

South Lakes were tiring and ready for the final whistle, but they stayed strong and managed to keep Ulverston from scoring again, while Cooke netted their eighth after an attack down the right from Cook and Emma Armstrong.

South Lakes host Carlisle seconds on Saturday.