Driffield Ladies have sufficient longevity to field a 0/55 Hockey Team and this Sunday we travelled down to Worcestershire to play Bretforton in the Semi-Finals of the England Masters Championship Competition.
Never having played Bretforton in previous years we were slightly in awe of their impressive Club Website !

Calming the nerves, establishing a game plan and warming up tight muscles were the first tasks in hand.
Bretforton had the first push-back but their manoeuvre was dismantled by mid-fields Soanes and Tuplin and the ball stayed solidly in Driffields possession. Tuplin ploughed through the Bretforton ladies passing across to the right wing for Sally Hunt to collect and belt across the opponents goal, just travelling wide.
Driffield focused keenly on winning this game. Efficient pressing on Bretforton free hits curtailed any forward movement of their play and fluid 3-way passing and communication resulted in Driffield forwards breaking through into the Bretforton quarter.
22 minutes into the game and Mieke Davison got her stick to an accurate pass from Claire Turner and neatly deflected it past the GK.
Tuplin and Williams working tirelessly in mid-field were clumsily blocked just inside the “D” and were awarded a penalty corner which Tuplin neatly converted for Driffield Ladies.
Half time and Driffield relaxed into a 2:0 lead.
Driffield were fielding a squad of 14 and some slick subbing enabled legs to stay fresh. Captain Soanes scored ten minutes into the second half from a ball collected just in front of the GK and slotted into the left corner of the goal.
Bretforton fought hard but our GK Debs Nelson had a solid wall of protection in front of her in the form of Morgan and Falkingham, supported by Purnell, Measom and Holdsworth.
Susan Bratt battling away in the forwards had her efforts rewarded when she collected a forward pass from Tuplin and slapped it into the back-board.
3 minutes later and Wendy Foster skilfully weaved through the Bretforton fullbacks to draw the GK off her line and smack it into the corner of the goal.
The final and sixth goal was claimed by Sally Hunt in midfield from a clean, fast shot from the top of the “D”.
Bretforton with a last flurry of energy and Driffield relaxing into their win just managed to find a gap in our defence and won their only goal of the match.

Thanks to Nellie for knitting us all team beanies. :)

A solid performance from an enthusiastic, committed team of ladies.
We will now face St Albans in the Masters Championship Finals at Lee Valley Stadium in London on the 29th April.