The cougars dominated against Mannamead on Sunday for their last away match of the season, despite it being one of their lowest wins this year.
With league victory in their sights, Kingsbridge and Salcombe Ladies Hockey Club 2nd XI knew the pressure was on to continue winning.
From the offset, the majority of the play remained in the opposition’s quarter as Mannamead tirelessly defended the Cougars numerous advances towards the goal.
With great work in the centre from Cara Yeoman and Laura Favis, the opposition were struggling to bring the ball up the middle and away from trouble. This ensured that forwards Heather Mockridge and Violet Moore could work together in the D putting the Mannamead defence under a lot of pressure.
The Cougars continued to battle hard but unfortunately the ball wasn’t reaching the back of the goal, despite powerful strikes from Lottie Sutherland.
Through tactical play the Cougars got a lot of short corners where Laura Tregelles did some fierce strikes from the top of the D, sometimes slipping it left or right to Sarah Budgen or Yeoman.
Despite dominating the match, when Mannamead made some successful breaks the defenders Nicky Sheppard and Katie Merrin quickly won the ball back and transferred it swiftly back up the pitch.
Using the wings, Charley Adams and Sutherland widened the game dribbling the ball forwards. They both frequently sent the ball into the D for the forwards to put more pressure on the Mannamead keeper.

At half time, coach Chris Guard told the Cougars to keep stretching the game high and wide which would give the away team a better chance of creating more space in the D.

The cougars went out strong again with Lauren Darbyshire remaining strong in the centre and transferring the ball well with Favis and Yeoman.
Mannamead made a few more breaks which centre back Anna McCabe defended well, with Erin Murgatroyd’s continuing support from the back motivating the girls and helping to keep their shape.
Then the hard work paid off as Favis sent the ball through to Mockridge who scored in the 21st minute of the second half to bring the score to 1-0.
The Cougars celebrated but kept focussed to ensure that Mannamead could not make a comeback and equalise the score.
With strong accurate passes between Darbyshire and Budgen, the away team continued to apply the pressure.
Overall, it was a slightly frustrating away match for the Cougars but they finished 1-0 which puts them in a strong position in the league tables.

Man of the match was awarded to Darbyshire who put in a strong performance in the centre of the pitch, ensuring the Cougars kept their formation throughout the match.
Thank you very much to all the supporters who travelled to Brickfields to watch and cheer on the team.

Report by Charley Adams.