Clitheroe And Blackburn Northern 2 South Lakes Ladies 1

SOUTH Lakes Ladies hockey team's first ever away day in the Northern League ended in defeat but certainly not disgrace.

They were beaten 2-1 by Clitheroe and Blackburn Northern and left East Lancashire feeling disappointed they never secured a draw.

Having experienced a baptism of fire at home the previous week against Longridge Ladies, who played a faultless game to win 8-1, the visitors started the game a little nervously.

However, some excellent defending from Cat Cooke, Bekah Nuttall and Lesley Davey, ably supported by Suze Armstrong and captain Dolly Nuttall in the sweeper roles, saw South Lakes absorb a great deal of the early pressure. Goalkeeper Gayle Mawdsley was only required to make one save in the opening half.

South Lakes started to exploit the spaces on the left hand side of the pitch and Lois Viney made some strong runs with the ball, on one occasion releasing Natalie Knowles, who linked well with Emma Armstrong who was unlucky to see her shot saved by the keeper.

The game continued to be end to end, with the Nuttall sisters working hard in the middle to defend everything at the top of the D; while Cooke and Viney linked well down the left and the Armstrongs and Rebecca Cook worked the ball smoothly up the right.

New girl Lucy Hill was keen to join in the action and made some brave interceptions when she came on as a rolling sub. An impressive solo run from Cook resulted in a fine cross into the D and found Knowles, who managed a touch but was unable to find the back of the net. This passage of play saw South Lakes force a pair of short corners – with Davey’s bullet of a strike being brilliantly blocked by the Clitheroe centre back, Miller, who had a pretty faultless game.

Viney hit the post with a deflection from the second of these corners. However, despite both sides making frequent forays into the opposition’s D, neither were able to break the deadlock and the score remained 0-0 at half-time.

The second half started much as the first had ended – a game of attack and counter-attack. Emma Armstrong worked tirelessly to get the ball into the opposition D, but the visitors could not make the final crucial touch.

Clitheroe were then awarded a short corner – Mawdsley made the first save, but the deflection was played beyond her reach and the home side went 1-0 up.

However, this advantage was short-lived, as South Lakes were then awarded a corner – which was slotted away beautifully by Davey, with an unstoppable strike from the top of the D.

As legs tired, tackles became a bit more wild, with captain Nuttall taking a blow to the arm. However, it was Clitheroe who benefited from the less clinical play, as they were once more awarded a short corner.

Again the deflection was pounced upon by the home side – this time a chest-high ball was played beyond the shoulder of Mawdsley.

South Lakes were unable to trouble the scoresheet for a second time and were disappointed not to come away with a point from their first game on the road in the new league. Yet the result saw them move off the bottom of the table due to their superior goal difference. Thanks to Margaret Mawdsley for umpiring.

South Lakes will look to gain their first victory of the new season when they host Garstang this weekend, with a 12.30pm pushback at Ulverston Leisure Centre.

l Anyone interested in joining South Lakes or popping along to a training session can visit www.south lakeshockeyclub.co.uk for details.