St Albans Hockey Club masters win national title

A DOMINANT second half saw St Albans Women’s Masters come from a goal behind to secure the over 35 National Title.

Two second-half goals from Liz Cleverly either side of Kerri Lendon’s strike was enough to see St Albans lift the trophy.

The team travelled to Nottingham for the Plate final of the Investec Women’s Masters with a loyal band of supporters where they came up against an experienced and tough opposition in Wimbledon.

The Londoners immediately took the game to a hesitant StAlbans side, but the defence stood firm and stopped any attacks that Wimbledon mounted.

In fact, it was the Tangerines who came closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half when Desrae Le Roux was unlucky not to score as the first half ended in a goalless stalemate.

Coach Sarah Embrey rallied the troops at half-time and St Albans started brightly but unfortunately conceded a goal early on.

This initially shook the team but gradually they wore the tiring opposition down.

The equaliser came from a penalty corner which was deflected round the keeper by Jenny Birch to find Cleverly at the far post who made it 1-1.

This spurred the team on and, at another corner, Lendon struck sweetly to put St Albans ahead.

The Tangerines continued to dominate the game and their relative youth and fitness shone through, enabling the team to exploit the space created as Cleverly attacked from the right and calmly slotted the ball away for her second of the match with four minutes to go.

The whole squad worked hard throughout the game and fully deserved to be crowned National Plate Champions.

The squad consisted of: Dawn Forshaw, Simone Burns, Carol Steel, Emma Thomas, Jo Herbert, Alyson Lord, Mary Oswin, Kerri Lendon, Ann Marie Davenport, Julie McConnell, Jenny Birch, Desrae Le Roux, Liz Cleverly, Helen Anton, Charlotte Barrett, Sarah Embrey. Manager: Simon Archer.