Ladies’ 2s beat Oxford 1s in local derby

Oxford 1 - 3 Hawks L2

The Ladies 2s got their league season underway with a tasty first match, away at Oxford, always a good fixture. It didn't start off too well, with Coach Wilko being about 45min late for the meet due to a slight "hiccup" with some car keys. Which was good news for Chloe Kirby, who despite chucking her stick during the game when trying (and failing) to hit the ball, managed to escape Donkey-free. Despite all this, the 2s started superbly, and took an early lead when Bex Oakes buried the ball home from an early corner. Oxford got back in it pretty quickly though and had a good patch of possession, winning a flick, which they very kindly put wide. A goal was coming though and a few minutes later they broke away and crossed to the far post for a simple tap in. 1-1 at half time.

After some firm words from Coach Wilko (as to be honest, it was pretty scrappy)(the pitch was slow? And was the ball a bit light Niamh?), the 2s came out strong again and re-established their lead, with Helen Nicholson having all the time in the world to bat home a rebound from a corner.  The umpire must have known it was Chloe Scragg's birthday the day before, as he gave her a nice card for not retreating from a free hit - Chloe's first ever!! Also safe from Donkey due to Wilko's keys. Hawks played some good hockey in the second half, with Evie Phillips playing superbly on her Hawks debut, earning her a well deserved MOM award. Danielle Williams was on fire at the back, doing some superb defending at short corners. Evie scored the 2s third goal with another well worked penalty corner, and Hawks played out the rest of the game calmly to take all three points.

With thanks to Muddy Shots Sports Photography for the images (full set of images available here). I'm sure Sandra in particular would like to thank them for THAT photo. And if anyone can work out how Chloe Scragg got her arm up there, she would very much like to know.