Beccles Ladies 1, Reepham 4A gritty performance by all the Beccles hockey players was not enough to halt the Reepham team in this M&A Partners Division One league game.

Beccles Ladies 1, Reepham 4

A gritty performance by all the Beccles hockey players was not enough to halt the Reepham team in this M&A Partners Division One league game.

Reepham, above Beccles in the league on goal difference only, went 1-0 up within seconds of the start of the game.

Undeterred, Beccles then had a good spell where they attacked the Reepham defence, but despite all the pressure they could not capitalise on this.

Fielding only 10 players, Beccles took a positive attacking approach and left the unfilled position in defence.

Reepham were very fast on the break and soon went 2-0 up following a counter-attack.

Despite the valiant efforts of the defence and in particular Lorraine Greenwood in goal, Reepham added two further goals to their tally before half-time.

Finding themselves 4-0 down at the breake, Beccles decided to make some positional changes and moved Karen Knight from left forward to right midfield, enabling Heather Brand to take up a sweeper position in defence.

This worked very well, and was enough to prevent any further goals.

Both teams had several opportunities, and Beccles were unlucky at least three times.

In one such incident, Beccles narrowly missed connecting with the ball as it shot across the goalmouth, and there were two other occasions when a good, hard strike went just wide of the goal.

This was a very hard-fought match and Ali Foreman was formidable, causing the opposition no end of problems as she successfully battled her way through her opponents to create scoring chances.

Jodie Smith also had a first-rate game at centre midfield, and her hard work was rewarded with a goal, following one of many attacks orchestrated by Ali Foreman.

The ball was picked up by Karen Knight, who quickly sent it to Jodie, who struck a superb shot on the edge of the D to give Beccles a well-deserved consolation goal.

Beccles can feel proud of the way they played, but they will always face an uphill struggle in this division when the club is unable to field a full squad.

This week Beccles are at home to Pelicans, 3pm start.