England Hockey Under 18 Girls Cup

Second Round

Chelmsford U18 4 Ipswich U18 0

CHELMSFORD faced a strong Ipswich squad in bright, dry conditions on the sand pitch in the second round of the cup and if every round proves as hard as this one, we're in for a tough competition this year!

Chelmsford made a bright start from the push back with an early short corner, hit in hard by Kate Maxey, that was well saved by Ipswich. Ipswich then began to retaliate with a long through pass to an isolated forward which our first-half goalkeeper, Lucy Stuchfield, forced wide. After a period of pressure from Ipswich, Chelmsford rallied with a further short corner chance and some shots on goals. Play was fairly even until Chelmsford scored after 27 minutes from a goal line cross knocked in Harriet Price. Ipswich responded fiercely with a shot on goal that hit the bar, ultimately cleared away. Play ended with Ipswich having slightly more of the play, and the game still wide open.

Our goalkeepers changed at half time and Kathryn Ecott took over from Lucy, who had had an excellent half. The second half started with Ipswich determined to score an early goal, and with sustained pressure forced two early short corners and strong shots on goal. One of the shots saved and kicked out by Kathryn, was skilfully flicked high back over her head. Kathryn was just able to hand it off safely at full reach. Another strong reverse hit shot hit the inside of our goalpost and rebounded across the goal! Chelmsford defence managed to keep the ball out of the net against sustained pressure with a further two short corners against them and more shots on goal.

Chelmsford increased their lead through Jenny Spindler, against the run of play and this was the turning point of the match. Ipswich pressure reduced and our girls started to dominate play with a period of attacking pressure resulting in a short corner, with a third goal from Jenny Elias coming soon after at 55 minutes. The play was open towards the end of the match, with goal scoring opportunities at both ends, but Chelmsford girls finished very strongly and scored their fourth goal from a quickly taken free-hit, struck in strongly by Jenny Spindler.