Hockey: Lancaster end winless streak to claim important three points against Brooklands

Lancaster started well with good passing exchanges down both flanks with Ella Bookless and Holly Farquharson creating the overlap.

Holly Hunter and Libby Thwaites were fantastic up front pressuring Brooklands’ defence and making clever runs to create the space for Nicola Conway to take up on the edge of the D.

Lancaster went down to 10 players after Jayde Christeansen was sin binned for a rash tackle but they took control and Nina Helme and Josie Rice stayed solid and didn’t let Brooklands make the extra player count.

After 22 minutes Lancaster found their goal when Farquharson played a great ball down the left to Conway who jinked inside and found Tineka Jennings.

She drove into the D and after she was tackled the ball fell to Julie Walker who slotted it home with a neat finish on the reverse.

Brooklands responded well and were getting rewards down the right hand side, winning a number of penalty corners which Lancaster defended solidly to keep the lead going into the break.

Lancaster found good spaces in the second half and Thwaites had a great chance at the far post but she just put the ball wide. Brooklands knew they weren’t out of this game and they pushed players into the D, creating plenty of chances, but they found Lancaster’s goalkeeper Leighan Bleasdale in fantastic form. Bleasdale made three outstanding saves in quick succession to keep her cleansheet intact.

Lancaster stayed in control, despite coming under some late pressure, and managed to see the game out to get the massive three points they needed.

l Lancaster 2nds travelled to Nelson at the weekend to play Pendle Forest 3s but were beaten 2-1.

Lancaster broke the deadlock with Jo Hayes scoring a very well struck goal from a penalty corner.

Lancaster appeared to switch off early in the second half and a defensive error saw them hand Pendle an easy equaliser.

Pendle then pushed for a winner and Lancaster were unable to clear their lines as the hosts earned a flurry of short corners.

They calmly converted one eventually, lifting the ball over the Lancaster keeper after her initial save.

lA battling Lancaster 3s were defeated by a strong Preston Ladies 2s side despite a strong team performance.

Preston opened the scoring in the first half despite an initial save by Lancaster keeper Lizzie McAdam, another attacker tucking home the rebound, and a defensive error just before half time saw the hosts double their lead;

Preston scored two more times in the second half to claim a 4-0 win in what was a bottom of the table clash.