SOHC Ladies IV 2, Teign Ladies III 1 After an extremely long Christmas break, SOHC Ladies IV were ready to start the New Year with a hopefully convincing win against Teign Ladies III, writes Jane Roberts.

The hosts made a bright start, dominating the early exchanges with some precise flowing moves up the pitch which resulted in a number of opportunities being created, but none could be converted into goals.

Norma Rich worked relentlessly hard in the centre making some crucial tackles to keep possession for SOHC and there were some impressive left wing forays involving skipper Maggie Heal and Evie Wilson.

The deadlock was eventually broken after some determined play on the right by Caren Flicker and Sam Andrews which resulted in Maggie Heal slotting the ball past the Teign goalie from close range.

The goal clearly settled the home side and, even though the visitors looked to respond, they got little change out of a solid defence in which Jo Elliott, Amy Moore and Catherine Vincent made some fine tackles in front of an alert Becca Lang who pulled off a number of excellent saves. However, parity was restored with a clinical finish.

The lead was regained before the break when Jane Roberts tucked away a short corner set-piece routine to give SOHC the interval advantage.

The second half was very one sided with SOHC having all the attacking play. Although the home side kept pushing for a third goal and had numerous short corners, credit must be given to the Teign defence who consistently kept the ball away from their goal.

Frustrated from the lack of more goals, SOHC were however thrilled to win their first match of the New Year.

Congratulations must go to the youngsters of the team; Georgia Wilson, Evie Wilson, Aimee Keast, Hope Burgess, Becca Lang and Flora Hastie, all; of whom certainly played a huge part in helping the team to victory.

Tomorrow (Saturday) there’s an in-house derby as the second team take on the club’s third team in a league game that is sure to be an exciting contest. Kick-off for the game at Sidmouth Community College is 10.30am.