Evergreens close to a win

Beccles 2, Evergreens 2

HOCKEY: On a damp, foggy afternoon, Evergreens made the trip to take on Beccles in this hard fought fixture.

Beccles started strongly and took an early lead after the Evergreens’ defence were uncharacteristically slow out of the blocks.

Evergreens then battled back and Louise White played an inspired pass from the halfway line, diagonally across the pitch, to pick out Jess Shand who spectacularly fired the ball home from an acute angle.

As the game progressed it became clear that the two teams were evenly matched, and the competitiveness of the teams intensified.

Jess Shand was shown a green card for showing dissent to an umpire after she disagreed with a decision given against her.

With Evergreens temporarily losing their focus, Beccles pounced and took the lead for a second time.

Evergreens soon regained a grip on the game and Louise White played another penetrating pass into the D and Sam Turner’s touch-knocked it into the path of Jess Shand who scored the equaliser.

Some good passing on the right saw Hannah Mitchell’s cross bounce off a post but nobody was there to claim the rebound.

Beccles then replied and won a short corner, and an instinctive goal-line save from captain Abi White prevented them from taking the lead for the third time.

Further umpiring decisions did not go Evergreens’ way, which resulted in Jess Shand receiving a yellow card for her shout of pain following a tackle.

Even though Evergreens were temporarily reduced to 10 players they managed to force a series of short corners.

From one, Naomi Holl’s shot was thought to have crossed the line by most players but was apparently missed by the umpire and did not count.

Player of the match: Hannah Mitchell.