Ladies Hockey

Berkeley Division 3

Thornbury 1 Wotton-under-Edge 2nds 5

WOTTON-Under-Edge Ladies sec - onds hit the wet and miserable road to face Thornbury in a local derby at Castle School, Thornbury.

The win puts Wotton third in the table behind second-placed Wick and top-of-the-table Bristol and West.

As soon as the whistle was blown Wotton were on to the ball, with Cessy Tyne driving down the right and passing into an expect - ant Abi Ellis who smashed the ball in, cracking it on the back board.

Wotton’s tenacity and resil - ience from the defence saw unstoppable Sophie Adamson drive through the middle to find Tyne on the wing.

Once again she drove the ball across to Ellis who swept the ball between the goalie’s pads to take the score to 2-0 at half time.

After the break, Thornbury came back fighting but Wotton were determined they were out to play their game. With unstop - pable triangles Wotton created opportunity after opportunity.

A scramble in the D, left cool- headed Tarragon Newcombe, the team’s youngest player, in a perfect position to poach the ball from under the goalie and reverse hit into the back board for a 3-0 lead. The fourth goal came from yet another example of great team play with another break down the right by Tyne who slipped the ball to Ellis on the edge of the D who then passed on to captain Victoria McCuaig to ram the ball home in to the back board.

Rhiannon Holt and Lucy Cul - pepper worked together to drive the ball out wide to the left then slipping it in to Katy Cruickshank at the top of the D who launched the ball high into Thornbury’s net.

As the rain poured down in tor - rential sheets, Wotton took their foot off the gas in the closing minutes, allowing a lucky break for Thornbury.

It was the best team perfor - mance for the ladies seconds this season.