England Hockey Women’s Conference League IPSWICH ended Chelmsford’s unbeaten run and spell at the top of the EHL East Conference table with a fantastic 2-1 victory that saw the Suffolk team move into second place.

The home side, able to field a full squad for the first time in weeks, started at a cracking pace forcing the visitors back into their own half. With midfielders Vanessa Roberts and Issy Sheldrake pulling the strings it was all Ipswich pressure and it was no surprise to the large crowd when the Suffolk team took the lead in the sixth minute when a through ball by captain Emma Millar found 15-year-old Hannah Martin on the top of the circle and the talented youngster skilfully made enough space to fire an unstoppable shot past the Chelmsford keeper.

In the 19th minute things got better for the home side as Faye Curran doubled the score. A good lead from a long corner saw her through on goal and she unleashed a rocket of a shot into the bottom corner.

Chelmsford came out at a much higher tempo in the second half and the visitors started to put the Ipswich defence under far more pressure. Some good saves by Caroline Stuart in goal kept the visitors frustrated.

On 45 minutes Chelmsford finally converted one of their short corners, after an initial save by Stuart the ball bounced kindly to Libby Knifton who scrambled it in from three yards.

With the Essex side now starting to believe they could get something out of the game the tempo went up another notch and Ipswich had to dig deep to hold onto their lead.