Winscombe Ladies 1st XI traveled away to play Bath Buccaneers 3rd XI in a New Year friendly to get them ready for a return to league hockey next week.

Bath Buccs had first centre pass, however from the start Winscombe Ladies worked together as a team with forwards Izzy Savage, Gabby Richardson and Hannah Taylor putting pressure on the Bath Buccs’ defence. Whilst both teams counter-attacked with determination the Winscombe defence of keeper Katie Walker, Juju O’Sullivan, Michelle Isgar, Charlie Phillips and Michelle Clarke-McCulloch thwarted the Bath Buccs attempts on goal – leaving the match scoreless at the half-time break.

Bath Buccs were first off the mark from the centre pass with a very quick attack on the Winscombe goal to open up the scoring with a fine finish. Undaunted, Winscombe re-doubled their efforts and with renewed vigour and hard-work across the whole team, a passage of play between the midfield of Sarah Holland, Emily Townsend and Leanne Gardner – who had worked hard to track-back and defend, win possession and then mount an attack which saw Hannah Bapty on the forward line tuck the ball away to bring the match level.

Further pressure was applied to the Bath Buccs goal, whilst the heavens opened and the rain pelted down, the Winscombe forwards put together some excellent attacking play resulting in Winscombe taking the lead when Emily Townsend pounced on a rebound to bury Winscombe’s second goal.

Winscombe almost increased their lead in the dying minutes of the match, however the goal was disallowed by the umpire due to an apparent Winscombe foot in the D.

The final score was 2-1.

John Hodge Solicitors Player of the Match was Charlie Phillips.

Photo: Hannah Bapty in action