Bonagrass Grove 3 Porcelanosa Kelburne 1, at DISC
In one of the best women’s hockey matches seen in Scotland for a long time, champions Bonagrass Grove defeated Porcellanosa Kelburne, the new challenging kids on the bloc, by 3-1. That stretched their lead at the top of the Subway national league table to eight points, though Kelburne have a game in hand.
All four goals resulted from set-pieces, indicating a good balance between attack and defence, and it was Grove who went ahead from a penalty corner in the ninth minute, Louise Carroll’s shot coming off a defender’s stick high into the roof of the net.
Amy Hislop had a chance to equalise, her shot going wide, and Kelburne had a couple of corners, too, Grove keeper Anna Schwartz pulling off a good save.
Carroll stepped for another penalty corner, but her shot was initially saved, falling instead to Sophie McIntyre to net the rebound for a 2-0 lead by half-time.
Kelburne were in control of the start of the second period, but Grove were sustained by some excellent playmaking by former Olympic captain Pauline Stott. And they extended their lead after yet another corner, this time the ball stopped illegally, led to a penalty stroke, which Nikki Kidd converted.
Kelburne finally got their consolation goal in the 55th minute, when Emily Maguire’s penalty corner strike also went in off an opponent’s stick.
Source: SHU