Sudbury went to Thurrock, having not played the previous week due to the bad weather and hungry for the three points.

Sudbury Ladies 1st Team Hockey Report

17th January 2009

Thurrock Ladies 0, Sudbury Ladies 1

Sudbury went to Thurrock, having not played the previous week due to the bad weather and hungry for the three points. With good pre-match preparation and morale high, the start of the game saw some typical hard Sudbury attacking. Short corner after short corner were gained but unfortunately not converted.

Slick passing on Sudbury's right by Colton, Sloan and Jones pulled the Thurrock defence apart. The three rotating forwards, Eley, Shepherdson and Barras, worked magically together, with their turn of speed and linking passes. Finally Sudbury were rewarded when an attack from the right sent the ball to Smith on the left, who found Eley in the 'D' to cross for Barras whose solid hit was unstoppable despite the Thurrock defender on the line.

Sudbury's player-of-the-match, goalkeeper Mackay, kept them in the game. Thurrock had had several shots on goal but Mackay was covering every inch of her goal.

Once again the solid defence of Spooner and Clark and their rotating wing-backs, Coleman, Humphreys, Caddock and Stephens, frustrated the opposition, with their constant hassling, ball-winning and distributing accurately.

Sudbury often come unstuck in the second half but this time played the new period as they had the first. They defended a string of short corners in a tense final five minutes.

On Saturday, Sudbury entertain Cambridge University at Great Cornard at 1pm.