West Clubs Women’s Hockey League

Petroc Division One

Dartmouth 5,

Sidmouth & Ottery 4

Out of the two teams, Sidmouth would have been the one you would have thought would have this game in the bag.

With less than 20 minutes gone, Dartmouth were four goals to one down and it was looking like it was going to be a long old game.

It was nice to see Lauren Rogers-Jones, Lucy Pillar and Jamie Rendle-Streeter supporting Dartmouth from the sideline, as well as the return of Alix Vincent.

Sidmouth have a young, fit side and always give Dartmouth a good game. The last time these two teams met, Sidmouth beat Dartmouth by a two-goal margin.

Dartmouth started well in this match and went ahead with only four minutes on the clock. Charley Langman picked the ball up from open play, passed the ball to Alix Vincent, Alix took the ball on, beat the last defender and slotted the ball past the Sidmouth keeper to put Dartmouth one goal up.

From then on the wheels came off. Sidmouth struck two minutes later and again 30 seconds after that. Sidmouth scored in the 10th minute with a short corner and finished the goal glut with just 12 minutes gone, to put Sidmouth in the driving seat and four goals to one ahead.

Lisa Ansell couldn’t find any more words of comfort for her team, so she did what all good captains do and assisted with Dartmouth’s second and the kind of comeback that Dartmouth has never seen.

Dartmouth were awarded a short corner. Lisa Ansell took the short, passed the ball to Hannah Pillar, Hannah dropped her shoulder, sold the dummy and slotted the ball home to reduce the deficit to two goals.

Three minutes later, Dartmouth scored a brilliant team goal. Rosie Caunter started the move with a hit from the 16, the ball found Freya Bradley, Freya slipped the ball through to Hannah Pillar, Hannah found Alix Vincent in space and Alix hit the Sidmouth goal for a second time, bringing Dartmouth within touching distance of Sidmouth.

The next goal came from skipper Lisa Ansell again. She took a sideline ball, found Hannah Pillar, Hannah threaded the ball to Freya Bradley, Freya took the ball on and hit the Sidmouth’s back board to pull Dartmouth level. All of this and only 30 minutes gone!

Dartmouth had the last say of the first half. Sarah Barrett picked the ball up from deep, passed to Sam Webb, Sam picked out Freya Bradley, Freya crossed the ball to Hannah Pillar and Hannah got her second of the day. More ­importantly, though, Dartmouth were in front in one of the most thrilling first halves in the club’s history.

With the Dartmouth ladies putting all that into 35 minutes, what could coach Matt Putt and captain Lisa Ansell add? For the first time in years, the half-time talk was about the best comeback that any of the ladies had ever seen in a league game.

Matt informed the Dartmouth team that Sidmouth would come out all guns blazing and that the Dartmouth defence would have to tight.

Matt’s words were proven right when Sidmouth came out for round two. They bombarded the Dartmouth goal, but Ellie Malley had a word with herself during the break and made some match-winning saves.

If it wasn’t for Ellie, Dartmouth could have found themselves another four goals down in the second half, but Ellie and her defence pulled out all the stops and defended resolutely. Dartmouth soaked up the pressure and hit Sidmouth on the break, but the Sidmouth defence didn’t feel in a charitable mood and snuffed out Lisa Ansell’s, Alix Vincent’s and Sarah Barrett’s attempts, and so the game finished with another victory for Dartmouth.

After the game, Steve and Juliet Freeman from the Old Inn at Halwell presented both teams with some much-needed substance.

Alix Vincent was voted player of the match and received her gift from the Stoke Lodge Hotel. Westdown Farm Beef kindly sponsored the match.

Dartmouth have another home game on Saturday against Teign seconds with a 10.45am push-back at Kingsbridge Community College. The last time these two met there was just one goal in it. The way Dartmouth are playing, though, there could be many more.