Okehampton ladies 2

White Eagles 4

EARLIER in the season Okehampton ladies were the victors at their home fixture to Tiverton side White Eagles, who were determined to get their revenge.

The driving rain made playing conditions difficult for both teams but it was the home team who initially adapted their game and controlled the play.

The White Eagles defence sent long hard balls up the pitch for their forwards to run on to and it was not long before they had slotted one of these balls into the back of the Oke net.

Despite battling hard Oke could not find their form and just before half time White Eagles added two more goals.

After an inspiring half time chat from captain Lesley Bingham the Columbines came out ready to play their style of hockey.

Jo Drake, Lesley Bingham and Kim Davey worked well together passing the ball accurately and attacking the White Eagles circle but the Oke forwards were tightly marked, preventing many shots on goal. Oke's break came when Jo Moppett used her skill and speed to outwit the White Eagles defenders and score an excellent solo goal.

The visiting side were inspired by this goal and started to move the ball quickly using short passes to get round the defence. Their second goal came from a slick passing move from deep in defence into attack finding Moppett in space to score her second.

Just when Oke were looking to equalise they sustained injuries to Hannah Whiteley and Jo Moppett, with both players having to leave the pitch.

The visitors defended valiantly with central defender Carol Taylor and Oke player of the match Jane Jones making some decisive tackles to keep White Eagles at bay. Oke's keeper Shannon Osman was also forced to make some crucial saves to keep her team in the game.

However, White Eagles increased their lead in the last few minutes to give a final score of 4-2 to the home team.