Petroc division one

Dart 0,

Dartmouth 2

Wounded and hurt by the Torbay game two weeks ago, the women from Dart­mouth show­ed the rest in Petroc one what you have to do to become worthy champions.

The performance was truly outstanding.

The defence of Chel­sey Rendle, Chloe Ed­wards, Ellie Malley, Becca Squires – playing left mid – and Hannah Pillar was sublime.

Dart put the pressure on Dartmouth but Dart­mouth soaked it up, spat it out and came back with a vengeance.

Dartmouth were missing key players through work commitments, but it made little difference to the attacking force and to the midfield.

Dartmouth had the luxury of playing relatively new player Becca Squires. Becca, playing 60 per cent of the game and a welcome debut of Ali­cia Wadeson.

Siobhan Edwards pushed up to the right mid, combining with Lisa Hunt, playing right wing.

Player of the match Sarah Bar­rett played out of her skin. Sarah, playing left and right mid as well as being playmaker, abso­lutely dominated the game.

Siobhan Edwards, making Dart think of every free hit and 16 they took. Darcey Wall, playing mid left, and Mandy Servan kept Dart honest on the left wing and Lucy Pillar was lethal in her execution.

Stalwarts of the club Julie Pillar and Jo Ren­dle played their usual solid game and gave encouragement to the younger members of the squad when needed.

The game went off at a furious pace and Dart took the game to Dart­mouth. Dartmouth, un­der the cosh for the first eight minutes, received a free hit around the 25-metre mark.

Sarah Barrett took a quick hit to Lucy Pillar; in the blink of an eye, Lucy received the ball from Sarah in the opposition's D, trap­ped the ball turned and shot past the stunned Dart 'keeper and defence into the net for the best goal of the season and probably one of the best goals seen for a few years.

Dart, stunned by this, took a bit of time to readjust but Dart­mouth took the goal in their stride.

From that moment on it was pretty much end-to-end, and with four minutes to go before half-time, the Barrett-Pillar combination hit again.

Sarah, picking the ball up from deep, dribbled past three Dart players, before firing goalwards.

The ball hit the helpless Dart 'keeper, only for Lucy Pillar to pick up the rebound and score goal number two for the morning.

Dart, again stunned by the accuracy and speed of the goal, went into their shell and were lucky not to go further behind with Lisa Hunt and Mandy Sev­ran going close.

The only thing to save Dart was the half time whistle which duly came and Dart could take stock and try and regroup.

The second half started as fast as the first half with both teams counter attacking.

With 10 minutes of the second half under way it looked like Dart pulled a goal back, only to be denied by the umpire's whistle, blown a split second before Dart scored.

Dartmouth's ruthless defence was not budging, with a couple of brilliant saves from Ellie Malley and Chloe Edwards throwing herself at every ball that came into the D.

Dartmouth, again soaking up the Dart pressure and counter attacking with Sarah Barrett, Siobhan Ed­wards, Lisa Hunt, Man­dy Sevran and Lucy Pillar keeping the Dart defence and 'keeper honest.

Both teams were at a deadlock and when the final whistle went it was a bit of a shame that the umpires called a halt to a game which could be one of the best of the season.

The match was kindly sponsored by The Dolphin Inn and as mentioned before Sarah Barrett received her bottle of bubbly for player of the match.

Dartmouth have a well-deserved break this week but will be back in the saddle again, hopefully before the Christmas break.

The Dartmouth lad­ies are looking forward to the Boxing Day game against DRFC and things will be a bit different this year, with the Dartmouth ladies much improved and stronger side.