Viv Saunders and Kate Cullinan claim braces as Bishop’s Stortford IX beat Chiltern II 4-1 in East Women’s Hockey League
Viv Saunders and Kate Cullinan both claimed braces as Bishop’s Stortford IX beat Chiltern II 4-1 at home to claim their first East Women’s League, Division 7SW victory on Saturday (November 25).
The newly-formed development team, which includes youngsters and players who have returned to the sport, dominated from the off against a side they lost 1-0 to earlier in the season.
Saunders gave the hosts a fifth-minute lead, but they were unable to add to their tally before the break despite having most of the play.
They were inspired by a half-time team talk and Cullinan netted twice in the first five minutes of the second period to put them in charge.
The visitors did reduce the arrears midway through the half, but Stortford had the last word as Saunders completed the scoring three minutes from time.
The third team suffered a 4-0 defeat at unbeaten leaders Saffron Walden in 2SW.
The visitors made a bright start and put plenty of pressure on the startled table-toppers.
But, as has often been the case this term, they were unable to take their chances and conceded a breakaway goal just before half time.
The hosts changed their formation after the interval and were quick to pounce on mistakes as they netted on three more occasions.
Eryn Foote, who was the shining light in the second half with her tackling and driving runs down the left, was named player of the match while debutante Lottie Dodsworth made some tremendous saves.
Vicky Cox netted twice as the sixth team triumphed 6-1 at Braintree II to maintain their place at the 4SE summit.
She got her goals early on while Lois Wright, Mary Sanders and Kim Durbin also struck before half time.
Grace McKelvey added her name to the score sheet after the restart to complete a convincing victory.
Charlotte Pettit won the player-of-the-match award for some excellent midfield play while goalkeeper Izzy Jones made some notable saves.
The seventh team were unable to recover from a bad start as they lost 5-0 at Bedford VI in 5SW.
They conceded three goals in the opening eight minutes, but heads did not drop and they battled until the end. Martha Trist was player of the match.
The eighth team lost 3-2 at Saffron Walden V in 6SW while the games involving the firsts, seconds, fourths and fifths were postponed due to frozen pitches.
In the East Men’s League, there was a heavy 9-0 defeat for the third team at Stevenage in 2SW.
The fourth team and fifth team had better fortune with 2-0 and 9-1 victories over St Albans VII and Southgate Adelaide II respectively in 5SW while the sixth team were awarded a walkover against Southgate Adelaide III in 7SW.
The first team started their Premier Division match at Cambridge University before seeing it abandoned at half time due to a frozen pitch with the score 1-1. The weather also resulted in weekends off for the second and seventh teams.
