Wotton’s return to form continued as they negotiated this potentially tricky away fixture and took part in a crowd-pleasing goal feast.

The teams looked evenly matched at the start, but some creative manoeuvring in the home side circle was rewarded with a goal for Leila Grey - returning to the team after a three-match break. Five minutes later she scored again, pouncing on a defensive error. This seemed to break Newent’s spirit and they took a long spell of pressure, culminating in a reverse stick flick by Hayley Perrett which whistled past the astounded Newent keeper’s shoulder. But it wasn’t over for the Foresters as they came back at the end of the half with a string of eight penalty corners and finally converted the last.

With the score 3-1 in their favour, Wotton started the half confidently and won a penalty corner in the opening minutes that Perrett duly converted. Another came ten minutes later and Wotton employed a three-pass routine involving Jas George, Emma Robertson and Grey that completely bamboozled the Newent defence allowing Robertson to score. At 5-1 it all looked sewn up, but somehow Newent suddenly grabbed their courage and started to fight back. Wotton conceded two quick goals and the whole atmosphere of the match changed from the anticipated rout to desperate damage limitation.

In the end they survived the pressure and rounded off the game with a rerun of the dazzling penalty corner routine for Robertson to complete the scoring.

It was clear that there was a greater confidence in the side, and the telling statistic is the penalty corner conversion rate has exceeded last week’s, with Wotton taking three goals from six corners.

Davis Wood Hockey League Hereford & Gloucestershire Division One Wotton-under-Edge II 0 Sherborne 2

With so few of their regular starters available and so many younger players given their senior debuts, Wotton could have been forgiven for fearing the worst when they conceded a goal in the second minute.

But Wotton’s younger contingent - buoyed by their successful season as a Badgers team - showed they are made of stronger stuff. Sherborne did create numerous chances but Wotton’s defence held firm in the face of the onslaught, led by a superb performance by stand-in goalkeeper Matt Gosling.

It wasn’t all one way traffic for the Blues. Badgers skipper Ed Hill finished off a fine run with an audacious reverse stick effort that came close to levelling the scores, Stuart Emms forced a fine double save from a penalty corner while Steve Dexter’s effort was denied only by the umpires whistle. Wotton, though very much second best in terms of possession, were 1-0 down and still very much in the game at half time.

The second half mirrored the first with the posts and Gosling preventing Sherborne from taking the game away from the hosts while at the other end, Sherborne’s keeper pulled off some more memorable saves to preserve his clean sheet. Wotton’s defensive efforts were complemented by the tireless efforts of Dexter and Will Cave in the centre, while both Nick Roberts and Greg Wilcox had their best games of the season thus far.

Max Smillie and Roy Hewish can be proud of their mature performances on senior debut and while Wotton will need to come up with something spectacular now to avoid the drop, they can take great satisfaction in the way their junior development continues to bear fruit.

* Wotton 1sts lost 2-1 at Ross-on-Wye in the Severn Division.

* Tickets are now on sale for the club’s end of season dinner on March 26 at Cotswold Edge. Visit www.wottonhockeyclub.org for details.