Sidmouth Ladies' hockey - With a series of away fixtures, followed by bad weather cancellations, and the half term break, it seemed like ages since the Ladies' 1st XI had played at home.

With a series of away fixtures, followed by bad weather cancellations, and the half term break, it seemed like ages since the Ladies' 1st XI had played at home. It showed in the opening phase of the match, with the Sidmouth side looking like they hadn't seen much hockey action for some time! However, they eventually put together some more accurate passing moves and gradually began to pressurise the Plym Valley defence.Captain Lea Pidgeon scored first after combining with Anna Cloke to produce a successful short corner routine. The lead was extended before long, following a strong run from Sara Roberts, who had a great game and is proving to be a real asset to the side this season. Plym Valley threatened to score on a few occasions when their long hit outs found a way through. However, Suzanne Delasalle was consistently strong in the Sidmouth goal and pulled off some great saves, making her an excellent stand- in for daughter Hayley.Sidmouth had the majority of the possession in the second half and capitalised on this with goals from Sarah Cloke and Lucy Broad. Lucy's persistence paid off as she scored her first league goal following a one-on-one battle with the keeper. With the advantage in their favour, Sidmouth pushed forward and there were some rare glimpses of defenders Janet Jones, Chloe Munn and Clare Choules in the attacking quarter of the pitch, though thankfully not all at the same time!Throughout the game, Karen Cann and Sarah Hutchings exploited the space on the right of the pitch and generated an overlap, keeping the Plym Valley defenders at full stretch. This allowed Lea Pidgeon to seal the win with the fifth goal coming after some good build-up passing moves. A tough game is expected next week when the team travel to Cornwall to play Caradon.