England Hockey League

Women’s East Conference

CHELMSFORD fought hard to gain this excellent win against difficult opposition and will feel some satisfaction that their planning and preparation paid dividends, recording their first three points of the season.

For fully the first 10 minutes of the opening half Chelmsford entirely controlled the game, put pressure on the Horsham defence and readily stifled any counter-attacks. The front-runners of Loren Sherer and Ruth Gordon stretched the Horsham defence, supported by strident performances from Louisa Taylor, Georgia Herron and Becky Budd.

Chelmsford’s attacking play produced four short corners but without troubling the scoreboard and as the first half progressed, the play between the teams became more even. Marie Kirkham and Hayley Heggie were solid in defence and at half time neither side had scored.

Recognising the need for a sharper cutting edge, Chelmsford started the second half with desire and focus. After four minutes a probing run by Ruth Gordon into the D resulted in the ball falling loose, allowing Loren Sherer to poach Chelmsford’s long overdue opening goal. From there, the quality of hockey from the home team jumped a notch, with Elsa Genovese, Julia Butterworth, Kate Taylor and Judith Duffin on top form.

Midway through the half, Duffin picked up the ball at the top of the D, ghosted goal direction and won a short corner. Liz Egan duly converted to score her first goal for Chelmsford and give the home team a degree of security at 2-0.

But in the final phase of the game, Horsham pressed forward and managed to scramble a goal in open play. Tense though the closing minutes were, Chelmsford responded with attacks of their own and held their lead to the final whistle.

Chelmsford’s next game is away to St Albans on Saturday, October 15. Pushback is at 1.30pm.