WOTTON finished third after they were unable to secure the win that would have seen them leapfrog Lydney on the final day of the season.

The visitors dominated, winning ten penalty corners to Lydney’s two, but were thwarted by an early sweep-in by a Lydney forward after a defensive mix-up.

Their recompense came late in the second half when a penalty corner shot from Sharron Bates was illegally stopped on the line by a Lydney body, and the ensuing stroke was confidently converted by player of the year Jasmin George.

It has been an enthralling season, with the youthful Wotton side heading the division for many weeks at the beginning.

  •  There was a distinct end-of-term feeling to Wotton first and second teams' final matches of the Davis Wood Hockey League campaign with promotion tantalisingly out of reach, while their respective opponents were long-since doomed to relegation.

In their De Cymru and Marches Division One match away to Cleevillians, the firsts recorded a low-key 2-0 victory to consolidate a respectable fifth place finish.

Meanwhile, the seconds huffed and puffed to a 3-0 home win over Marlborough thirds, the bottom-placed side in East Central Division One.

The Blues’ fourth-placed finish would have been thought remarkable at the start of the season but they showed themselves as clear promotion candidates over the campaign with only needlessly dropped points against lower teams costing them second place.

Despite coming away from their Marches Two Division match with Cirencester fourths with only a 1-1 draw, Wotton thirds showed great motivation in putting on a high-energy display of passing hockey, in which the performances of all the junior members were enormously encouraging for next season.