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Women's Conference North
Belper 3, Doncaster 2
BELPER put behind them the frustrations of the previous weekend to lift themselves to third place in the Conference North Division of the national league after a tension-filled win.
The hosts began on the back foot by conceding a goal insidethree minutes.
The ball was given away in midfield and Doncaster counter attacked at pace. Although the initial shot was going wide, Abby Brant managed to get her stick to the ball to deflect it into goal.
Belper responded well with a goal on eight minutes. A long pass out of defence found Charlotte Hobbs in space. She beat her marker then slipped a pass to Rhiannon Rogers who moved it onto Joanna Leigh. The resultant reverse stick shot was unstoppable, high into the net.
Alas, Belper’s concentration slipped almost immediately as another turnover in midfield allowed Doncaster to penetrate the home defence.
This time Brant’s shot was high in the corner of the goal giving keeper Sabbie Heesh no chance.
Again the Nailers came back and equalised in the 21st minute when Anna Toman’s penalty corner strike was deflected high into the net off a defender’s stick to level it at 2-2.
The game then settled down with Belper having the majority of possession and territorial advantage but unable to make it count. Doncaster still looked dangerous as they hit the ball upfield to clear their lines.
At half-time Belper believed that they could take all three points but it proved a difficult task to break down the South Yorkshire side’s defence with their goalkeeper on top form.
Leigh and Hobbs both had shots saved as the Nailers continued to press. The winning goal finally came at the fourth penalty corner. Toman’s initial shot was saved at full stretch but Jess Wood was first to the rebound and flicked it over the grounded keeper in an instant.
Belper nervously played out time and allowed Doncaster a penalty corner opportunity with two minutes to go but the defence team were admirable in their discipline and quick thinking, as they had been the in last four matches, to deny the visitors.
Sutton Coldfield and Durham University have managed to open up a gap from the chasing pack but even Belper in third place are not clear of any relegation worries as the other teams are close behind because of the inconsistent performances of many of the sides.
Belper recommence their national league programme on Saturday, February 6 away to Sunderland.
Now the season moves indoors for two months with Belper’s Under-18 team bidding to hold onto their national title; the Under-16s hoping to qualify for their national finals and the first team intending to stay in Division Two of the National Indoor League.
Last Sunday, Belper’s Under-18 team moved smoothly through round three of the English Hockey Board competition with a 5-2 victory over Leicester who scored after two minutes with Belper still clearing the sleep from their eyes.
Keeper Charlotte Howarth made a rapid triple-save but the rest of the defence were slow to help her out.
It took until the 13th minute before Belper equalised with a neat deflection from Charlotte Hobbs at a penalty corner.
One minute later Joanna Leigh took Belper into the lead with a low flick into the corner after Anna Toman had set up the chance with an excellent piece of dribbling skill and awareness.
The score went out to 3-1 six minutes later when Toman rifled a shot past the keeper after good approach work by Alice Sharp.
Ten minutes into the second half it was 4-1 as Leigh completed a flowing nine-pass move that encompassed six players to leave the Leicester defence stranded.
On 51 minutes Leicester had a glimmer of a chance as they broke quickly to score their second but the Nailers put the match beyond doubt ten minutes from the end, when Toman’s quick thinking at a penalty comer allowed her the space to fire the ball past the excellent Leicester keeper.
The fourth round is on February 14.
The Under-16 team lost a close third round tie 1-0 to Nottinghamshire rivals Beeston, after conceding a first-half penalty stroke.
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Weather for Belper
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North
