England Hockey Women’s Cup

(played Sunday, November 14)

ON the day Chelmsford were certainly beaten by a better side, but the scoreline flatters Buckingham and gives little insight into the hard work and courage of a Chelmsford First XI bolstered with some young and inexperienced players. Buckingham are unbeaten this season and with home advantage it was not surprising they started with confidence and commitment.

Chelmsford kept their structure solid and sought to hold off Buckingham’s fast attacking play. Conceding a short corner, Chelmsford suffered an early blow as the flicked shot went in. Unfazed by the Buckingham pressure, Chelmsford stuck to their game plan and steadily built attacks of their own, with Loren Sherer, Beth Wild and Kat Hales creating problems for Buckingham. The match was in the balance as half time came.

As the second half settled down, Chelmsford again coped well with Buckingham pressure but as the field opened up, Buckingham scored again. Effort was increased all round and great commitment from Sarah Bolton and Becky Budd showed that Chelmsford still had belief.

Tracking back to disrupt a Buckingham attack, Marie Kirkham was deemed to deserve a yellow card for a foul. Whilst Chelmsford were down to 10 players Buckingham scored a third. As Kirkham returned to the field, another Buckingham attack was held up and again the umpire drew the yellow card, this time for a grossly mistaken assumption that Louisa Taylor had said the wrong thing. As Buckingham rounded off the day with a fourth goal Chelmsford held together to see the game out and will reflect on a difficult day but with much to build on and to be satisfied with.