Guernsey book spot in third-round draw
Guernsey delivered a strong team performance to secure a 2-0 victory over Hailsham First XI in their England Hockey Women’s Tier Two Championship second round encounter on Saturday.
Fresh off the plane, the Sarnians were in for a hard first 10 minutes, with Hailsham piling on the pressure early.
Several attacking bursts from the home side saw Guernsey quickly kick into action, with crucial tackles being made across the pitch.
Once a bit more settled in play, the visiting attack became more coordinated.
The first Guernsey goal started from the middle, with key linking passes up the pitch, eventually ending in Mali Smith driving the ball up the baseline and passing across the face of goal to Tash Symes, who calmly slotted into the back of the net.
With momentum on their side and several further attacks, a second goal was imminent.
This time it was initiated by Katherine Bushell, playing at right-back, who utilised a one-two with Lucy Waldrom before regaining possession of the ball and running the length of the pitch.
With precision accuracy Bushell, later named player of the match, exposed a very acute angle left open on the near post to double Guernsey’s lead.
In the second half Hailsham tried to rally, but the Guernsey backline was inpenetrable, with short corners being chased down and all attacking efforts swiftly neutralised, alongside a couple of key saves being made by goalkeeper Emma Atkinson.
There were chances for Guernsey to increase their scoreline, too, with several efforts into the attacking D but none converted.
Overall, it was a fantastic end to 2024 for Bex Hubbard’s squad, who eagerly await the draw to be announced for the next round in the new year.
Guernsey Hockey thanked their women’s sponsors Fort Group, HFL and Versa Limited as without their support, cup runs like this just would not be feasible.
