Petroc league one

Isca 5,

This scoreline didn't reflect the effort that Dartmouth's ladies put in, as Dartmouth could have quite easily gone in from the first half a goal to the good.

With some brilliant goalkeeping from Ellie (The Cat) Malley and some gritty, defensive, determination from Bonnie Chivers, Chloe (The Wall) Edwards and Joe (Marge) Rendle, Dartmouth played their way out of trouble to create the chance.

With some really good stick control, Marge Rendle slipped the ball up the right wing to Di Bradley, who squared the ball to Hannah Pillar. Pillar released Lisa (The Stick) Hunt, who in turn slipped the ball to Siobhan (The Fist) Edwards.

Edwards gave a beautifully weighted ball to Lucy Pillar, whose shot went just wide of the opposition's left-hand post.

Isca, however, were having none of it and hit back on the counter, but Dartmouth's back three were staying strong, stroking the ball back up the pitch for Dartmouth to attack again.

Both teams' defence seemed to cancel each other out and it stayed goalless for the first half.

The second half was pretty much the same as the first, the only difference being the fitness of the Dartmouth ladies, as a result of not training on Astroturf.

Coaches Kevin Edwards and Chris Chater are left frustrated with not being able to use the BRNC pitch due to the Astroturf being condemned.

Isca soon picked up on the fact that Dartmouth were tiring and scored with nine minutes of the second half gone.

Dartmouth tried to respond but Isca kept pushing for the second goal and the goal came on the twenty-minute mark.

Just after that Dartmouth took off Marge Rendle and bought on Julie Pillar but Dartmouth's luck had run out and with two flick penalties against them, in quick succession, Dartmouth's day was done, Isca scoring the killer blow with just minutes left.

All credit goes to the Dartmouth ladies, who never gave up and were quite pleased with the way they played.

So they should have been, that's two games they have played after the Christmas break and the very least they should have come away with is a draw from both games.

Player of the Match went to Aaron Hunt's sister, Lisa, for covering every blade of Astroturf, with Ellie Malley coming a close second.

Dartmouth take on the University of Exeter this Saturday, having to play at the Kingsbridge Cougars' home ground due to the BRNC Astroturf being out of action.

Dartmouth can't wait for their home pitch to be fixed it's been a long six week the ladies have been without their home ground to take on opposing teams.

It's not only the Dartmouth ladies who have missed out, Dartmouth's hockey sponsor, The Sportsmans Arms, have been missing out because Dartmouth have had to take their food and drinks to wherever there has been a spare Astroturf pitch to play on, as opposed to going back to The Sportsmans Arms.