Colchester 9 Norwich Union 1

NE14 Hockey East League

Division 1N

Colchester 9 Norwich Union 1

Colchester went into the Christmas break with a thumping 9-1 victory over Norwich Union in a rain-soaked game on Saturday.

A confident start from the home side set the tone for the game, with swift passing moves around the back linking up with the midfield and pushing forward into attack.

Colchester took the lead early on when a Louise Bibby short corner strike went in via a Norwich Union foot for a fortunate, but deserved 1-0 advantage.

The second came soon after from another short corner, which was switched left for Lucy Struth to power in an unstoppable strike.

Colchester were soon 3-0 up from a move starting in defence and finishing with Bibby powering the ball across the face of goal for Struth to slot home with one touch.

Norwich Union managed to get back into the game towards the end of the half, taking advantage of some confusion in the Colchester defence resulting in an own goal.

Staring the second half 3-1 up and with confidence soaring Colchester pushed for more goals and with the rain pouring down remained focussed on the job in hand.

The half saw the home side rack up a further six goals from both open play and short corner routines as Norwich Union failed to deal with the continued pressure.

A hat trick for Helen Barnes, two goals for Angela Cook and one for Helen Wall wrapped up the tie to leave Colchester in second place in the league going into the Christmas break.