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Victorians Thirds 2

BANBRIDGE Ladies Seconds travelled to Jordanstown on Saturday to play Victorians Thirds in a league match.

Banbridge had played their last game against this team in the Intermediate Plate and after an average performance had gone down 2-1 so knew they had to step up their game this week.

The Seconds were also without a number of regular players and therefore had to call upon some of the Thirds players who all performed exceptionally well at this level.

Bann started the game well and found themselves in the circle early on, putting pressure on the Victorians ‘keeper. An attempted clearance following a shot at goal was put in the back of the net by a Victorian’ defender to give Bann an early lead.

This didn’t last long, with Victorians soon putting pressure on the Bann girls at the other end of the pitch; they were rewarded with a penalty corner from which they levelled the scores when a shot took a deflection off a Banbridge player.

Both teams battled hard in all areas of the pitch with Banbridge playing much better hockey against this side than at their previous encounter. The back four of Jo-Anne Lyttle, Julie Craig, Diane McMillen and Alex Huey were solid in defence and kept the Victorians forwards at bay.

Both teams looked evenly matched and pressure was put on at both ends of the field. It was Victorians who took the lead again when a Banbridge attacking move left the defence exposed and Victorians quickly took advantage of this with a counter-attack and left the ‘keeper with no chance, taking the score to 2-1.

Banbridge did not let this deter them and immediately responded when a good ball from Julie Craig found Hayley Robb on the right wing who made a great solo run and took a shot from the top of the circle to level the scores.

The second half saw much the same as the first with both teams battling for possession. Banbridge played a great passing game and continued to put pressure on the home side. They went close from a couple of penalty corners.

Aileen Lawson, Sarah Anderson and Lynda McKinley battled for everything in midfield and worked hard to feed the ball through to the forwards of Ashleigh Mitchell, Hannah Speers and Hayley Robb who combined well and made some great moves up front to keep the Victorians’ defence on their toes.

The Banbridge pressure soon paid off when a pass found Lynda McKinley in the circle who made no mistake and slotted the ball home for Bann to take the score to 3-2.

Banbridge had to continue to work hard as Victorians immediately responded at the other end of the pitch and threw everything at the Banbridge defence.

The Bann girls worked exceptionally hard to maintain their lead and stop Victorians from gaining from this pressure with ‘keeper Alanna Little making a crucial save to prevent Victorians from levelling the score again.

Close to the final whistle, a Banbridge attack saw Sarah Anderson take a free from outside the circle and making a great cross through to find Sandra Heasley on the left post who clinically connected and put the ball in the goal to seal Bann’s three points.

This was a good all round performance from the team who face a tough away fixture against Belfast Harlequins Fourths this week. Thanks to George Lavery for umpiring the game.