Highly successful trip to Ipswich

Bury Ladies 4s travelled to IES looking to win the first of two games in hand to close the gap to our 5th XI.

Bury got off to a flying start as Fiona Stokes scored in the first minute. But we then struggled to string any passes together, with IES looking the more dangerous side, creating pressure with an excellent high press without ever quite gaining a clear sight of goal.

Bury slowly began to find a rhythm and shifted the game into the IES half. It took a slick corner to double the lead and calm nerves, with Jen Clark deflecting home after nine minutes. Then the passes really started connecting, the movement of the ball opened space and we played some of our best hockey of the season to date. Jen would like to thank Fiona for putting a further three goals on a plate, driving the base line and pulling the ball back to open up the target. With Georgina Northeast-Roffey also scoring, Bury led 6-0 at half time . This was despite Anna "Bad Girl" Slater getting her first ever (green) card for not backing off at a free hit!

IES used the half time break to re-organise, realising they couldn’t allow the Bury front line the space they had in the first half. It worked as Bury found it harder to get to goal when closely marked. The coach claims a tactical master stroke led to Alex Huggins scoring her first goal of the season after she was moved to right half (from defensive centre half) in order to make her substitution easier. A final goal went to Kathryn Mitchell with a reverse stick lob into the top right corner for a highlight reel goal, and a demonstration of how tough making chances had become. A late flurry threatened the clean sheet but Bury ran out 8-0 winners.

We reconvene in another month to welcome Felixstowe 3s to Culford.