Beeston Ladies 1s stunned reigning champions East Grinstead with a hard fought 2-1 win at Nottingham Hockey Centre on week two of the Premier Division season.
The win makes it two wins from two after last weeks impressive display against Wimbledon.
East Grinstead started strongly and the opening exchanges saw pressure from the Sussex side resulting in a number of penalty corners. However the excellent penalty corner defence by the home side dealt with the threat. East Grinstead’s Great Britain drag flicker Grace Balsdon was shut down my Rosy Stephens and Charlotte Watson.
Beeston played their way back into the game and started to take control. After a period of pressure a long pass from Hannah Grieve to Cerys Miller resulted in a foul by the East Grinstead goalkeeper and Hannah Grieve calmly converted the resulting penalty stroke.
Before the end of the first quarter Beeston started to assert their dominance and an excellent pass from Hannah Grieve fell to Rosy Stephens who players Cerys Miller in on goal who finished calmly.
The second quarter saw more chances for Beeston, the pick of which was a solo effort from Charlotte Watson which narrowly missed the post.
Beeston looked in control over the reigning champions at half time. Having lost their opening fixture, East Grinstead came out firing in the second half, hoping to avoid being the first defending champions to lose their first two opening games.
Despite the pressure from the away side Beeston weathered the storm and limited the visitors to half chances.
It took until the fourth quarter for the visitors to strike, a penalty corner that was initially dealt with fell to Great Britain forward Tess Howard who put in the rebound.
The game became stretched as East Grinstead chased the game and Beeston looked to catch them on the break but the home side held onto their lead securing 3 points and maintaining their perfect start to the season.
Head Coach James Sordillo said, “It’s always a battle when we face East Grinstead, we know them pretty well and aware of their threats. We have beaten them before, but we have had to ride our luck a bit, I’m really pleased with how we limited their chances on goal. We stuck to our game plan and basic principles and it paid off, we prepared well for East Grinstead and we knew how to get the job done”.
On the 100% win rate at the start of the season Sordillo continued, “We just take one game at a time. There are no easy games in this league and we have a one step at a time mentality. From Monday the weekend is gone, our focus is on Clifton next week and nothing else”.
Beeston Ladies 1s are currently joint top of the Premier Division with Reading Hockey Club. You can watch Beeston in action on Saturday 30th September at Nottingham Hockey Centre as they host Bristol side Clifton Robinsons.
Bees Squad: Steph Tirrell, Hannah Grieve, Lottie Summers, Lauren Dunn, Lucy Mackey, Lauren Burrell (Captain), Nic Moss, Katie Mason, Martha Wong, Jane Kilpatrick, Ella Cusack, Angela Chilwell, Cerys Miller, Rosy Stephens, Mads Newitt.
*Main image @OfficialBeeHC Rosy Stephens in action for Beeston v East Grinstead.
