Petroc division one

Exe 1,

Dartmouth 2

Dartmouth won't come up against a more physical side this season and the Exe ladies gave Dartmouth a good run for their money.

Ellie Malley, Chelsey Rendle and Chloe Ed­wards proved vital as they kept Dartmouth in the game with some crucial goal line clearances.

Darcey Wall gave coach Matt Putt something to think about with her first full debut game, a debut which she grabbed with both hands and gave a good display of her hockey skills. Dartmouth opened the game with an unfamiliar 3-4-3, a set up they could utilise again in the future.

Dartmouth started with their familiar fast pace, pressing down the left and right wings and with only eight minutes gone it proved to be fruitful.

Mandy Servan picked the ball up from her own half and passed the ball to Sarah Barrett. Sarah took the shot on, only for the Exe defence to save, but fortunately the shot rebounded on to Lucy Pillar's stick and she hit the ball home.

Three minutes later Hannah Pillar had to receive medical treatment from medic Jeff Hunt for a badly bruised wrist after an Exe player took a shot on and the ball bounced up and caught Hannah on the wrist bone.

Hannah reluctantly went off and Jo Rendle took up defensive du­ties. Once Hannah received her treatment, there was no stopping her, champing at the bit to come on, back in defence.

Dartmouth pressed for goal number two but Exe caught them with a quick counter attack and this time Chloe Edwards stepped up to the mark and made a goal line clearance. Three minutes later Chelsey Rendle had to clear the ball from well inside the D.

Dartmouth soaked up the pressure and to their credit they kept their shape and were unlucky just before half time, Sarah Barrett, Mandy Servan and Lucy Pillar going close.

Jamie Rendle, finding her rhythm on the right wing, put in some mouth-watering crosses, only to be thwarted by the Exe defence.

The second half was as fast as the first half, but Dartmouth left the door wide open for Exe on the eighth minute and against the run of play, Exe were on level terms.

Dartmouth kept pressing but Exe wouldn't let them in.

Jamie Rendle frustrated the defence with some brilliant stick control, showing the defenders the 'Cruyff dummy' on more than one occasion.

Lisa Hunt and Lucy were dragging the Exe defence left and right, with Mandy doing the same on the left flank.

But it was Siobhan Edwards who put in another good shift to score next.

Jamie crossed the ball just outside the opposition's D, Siobhan picked the ball up at pace and smashed it home to take the score to two one in Dartmouth's favour.

Exe made one final assault on Dartmouth's defence with Ellie making another good stop on goal, but from then on it was all Dart­mouth.

With just 10 minutes to go Dartmouth were down to 10 players when the umpire decided to give Sarah Barrett a yellow card for dissent, but Dart­mouth stayed tight and saw out the remainder and came away with a well-deserved victory.

Hannah Pillar received the Wemco player of the match for her never-say-die determination. Apologies go to Freya Bradley and in particular to Alicia Wadeson for not getting them on the pitch. Alicia was warming up when a Dartmouth player received her early Valentine card from the umpire.

The game was kindly sponsored by Pillars News­agent.

The Dart­mouth ladies are in action again this Sat­urday at Kings­bridge Community College, against Ashmoor. The match will push back at 12.30pm. Feel free to come along and support.

In other news, coach Matt Putt is looking to start up a junior hockey side.

If your son or daughter is interested, the training will start the week after half term from 6-7pm at Kingsbridge Commu­nity College. The more the merrier.