Chelmsford 2 Slough 2

Slazenger English Hockey League Premier Division

Chelmsford 2 Slough 2

On Saturday, Chelmsford Ladies played host to current league leaders Slough in their Slazenger EHL Premier Division fixture.

With Slough scoring an average of three goals per game this season, it was no surprise that they put pressure on the Chelmsford defence from the start. Chelmsford's defence remained strong and broke away and won the first penalty corner of the match in the seventh minute. The resulting penalty corner saw the home team go close to opening the scoring when they saw their shot narrowly going wide of Slough's goal post. This near miss seemed to inspire Slough to another level and they immediately found themselves in a goal-scoring opportunity, which resulted in a shot missing the upright post by inches.

The deadlock was finally broken in favour of Chelmsford, when Irish defender Emer Harte broke down a Slough attack midway in her defending half. She played the ball down the right wing to England international Chloe Rogers, who successfully took the ball round two Slough defenders and, from the backline, passed the ball to the far post for the unmarked Lynn Bollington who pushed the ball into the empty goal.

Throughout the match the pace was frenetic, producing exciting goalmouth action at both ends of the pitch. As Slough continued to try and get an equalising goal, Chelmsford defence remained resolute with excellent performances by Ciara O'Brien, Hayley Heggie, Emer Harte and Marie Arber.

Chelmsford continued to cause problems for their visitors when making quick breaks out of defence. One such move came in the 18th minute, when Emer Harte broke, intercepted a pass in her defending 'D' and after a slick, flowing passing move involving five players, Chelmsford won a penalty corner. From the resulting strike at goal, Lynn Bollington pounced onto the rebound and scored her second of the match and gave Chelmsford a lead of 2-0 at half-time.

Within two minutes of the re-start for the second half, Slough had pulled a goal back. The quick goal had not allowed time for Chelmsford to impose their authority on the game which only made for a more exciting game. With both sides going close to increasing their score, it was ex-Chelmsford player Jane Smith who levelled the score when producing an unstoppable hit from the top of the 'D' into the bottom corner of the goal.

Within minutes of the scores being level, Chelmsford and England goalkeeper Katy Roberts produced a world class save to keep the home side in the match. The excitement and quality of the match continued for the full 70 minutes and the final score line of 2-2 was a fair result for both sides.

On Saturday, Chelmsford travel to local rivals Ipswich for their final league match before the winter break and the indoor season. Before their thoughts move onto indoor and their appearance in the European Indoor Championships, which is being held in Hamburg, Germany between 23-25 February, Chelmsford welcome Clifton in the HA Cup on Sunday for a home match which starts at Chelmer Park at 11:30.