Outstanding ladies net four in just 15 minutes
English Hockey League Women's Conference North* Belper 5 Loughborough Students 1
BELPER Ladies handed out a scintillating display of attacking hockey in the opening 15 minutes in which they shocked the students with four goals before they had time to catch their breath.
Charlotte Hobbs put the home side ahead within two minutes when Sophie Hawkins' centre caused confusion in the Loughborough ranks and as the keeper went to ground, Hobbs slipped the ball over the line.
Three minutes later midfielder Jess Wood drove into the circle and fired an unstoppable reverse stick shot past the surprised keeper from a narrow angle.
On 13 minutes Anna Toman picked up a loose clearance outside the circle, raced to the back line and delivered a pin-point pass for Alicia Robinson to deflect high into the net from close range.
To complete the opening burst two minutes later, Wood's quick free hit on the top on the circle found Alice Sharp in space and her quick cross-shot sped into corner of the goal.
It was impossible to maintain the pace of the assault and, as
Loughborough dug in to prevent further disasters, so the game settled down to a midfield battle with neither side making any inroads into the opposition's defence.
Being four goals to the good, the Nailers were able to sit back and control the course of the game up to the half-time whistle.
Belper knew that the students would mount an early second half offensive to try to salvage something from the game and so were prepared for a testing time.
However, it was Belper that increased their lead in the 41st minute when Anna Toman struck a crisp penalty corner shot past the logging keeper and the line defender could only parry the ball into the net to send Belper into a 5-0 lead.
The remainder of the second half was fairly even as Loughborough recovered some of their composure.
A yellow card and five minute suspension for Hawkins in the 60th minute as the result of a stick tackle, allowed the visitors some respect as they scored from the resultant penalty corner when the Belper defence team did not reorganise properly in Hawkins' absence.
This result keeps Belper in third place, three points ahead of this week's opposition Wakefield Bradford with a game in hand.
With the Yorkshire side winning 2-1 in the earlier bruising encounter at the Meadows, the Nailers will be determined to turn the tables and increase their lead to six points when they journey north on Saturday.
This Sunday at 2pm, Belper under-18s entertain Surbiton from Surrey in the quarter final of the cup competition sponsored by the MAN Group.
Belper are the national champions for the last three years and are keen to add a record-breaking fourth title to their reputation.
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Weather for Belper
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
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