Following last week’s hard-fought 0-0 draw away to East Grinstead, Holcombe Ladies opened their account at home by welcoming fellow Play-Off side from the previous term; the University of Birmingham.

The home side welcomed back Captain Steph Elliott from New Zealand for her first appearance of the season but otherwise remained unchanged as Head Coach Leigh Maasdorp was able to relinquish herself of playing responsibilities in her sides’ opening fixture at Holcombe Park.

With an unexpected falter away to Bowdon in their opening fixture, the students travelled to Kent determined to pick up their first points of the campaign and not fall away from the early season pace-setters.

In a cautious opening period, chances were limited as both goalkeepers remained largely untroubled. Lily Owesley looked dangerous for the visitors as early penalty corners were exchanged to no avail. As the half wore on, Holcombe began to assert themselves on the fixture, creating a number of turnovers in midfield as they forced their opponents deeper into their half.

In the final play of the opening period, an extended period of possession around the students’ circle led to a quick transfer to release Welsh International Jo Westwood whose strike across goal was deflected in by a diving Ellie Watton to send the home side into the break with a one goal lead.

With a renewed confidence at the start of the second half, the home side came out to dominate the early exchanges and were rewarded through a penalty corner goal to extend their lead. Assistant Player/Coach Leah Wilkinson fired into the bottom left corner following a well-constructed move at the top of the circle to give the home side the cushion that their pressure had deserved.

With just twenty minutes to go, the students responded with a driving run from Olympic Gold Medallist Owesley. Having turned the ball over in midfield, Owesley drove at the heart of the Holcombe defence and round to the baseline before lifting high over the smothering Rose Thomas to halve the deficit.

With the momentum shifted and a yellow card to Holcombe, Birmingham began to pile on the pressure in search of an equaliser and were rewarded with a barrage of Penalty Corners but some brave running from Emma Trunks in the Holcombe defence maintained the home sides’ advantage.

With just over 10 minutes to go, a forced ball out of the University of Birmingham defence was well turned over by Holcombe and a well weighted ball from Ellie Watton found Captain Steph Elliott at the top of the circle who fired into the top corner to secure the points for the home side.

On her return from New Zealand, Holcombe Captain Steph Elliott said; “It’s great to be back with the Holcombe girls; we’ve got some great new signings who seem to have settled in really well. Saturday’s game was exciting! We played well as a team but we definitely have another gear to step up to. I thought we managed Birmingham really well. They’re a good team but our experience and our ability to manage the game was vital and I think that’s what came through for us. It’s also great to hit the ground running with Leigh as Head Coach and I’m really enjoying playing for her!”

Next week, Holcombe travel to Buckingham for a Saturday lunch time fixture as they look to maintain their unbeaten start to the season.

Images courtesy of http://www.groutphotography.co.uk/