Chesterfield HC ladies confident for future after pushing league favourites all the way

The new Chesterfield Hockey Club ladies first team impressed in their opening match despite defeat.

The squad featured no less than six players under the age of 18 with the club looking to build for the future.

“I was seriously impressed with how the young players in particular coped,” said captain Ruth Elliot. "Ashbourne are a very good side - probably the best in the league. We’ve got so much potential and will only get better.

"Obviously it’s disappointing to lose but we’ve learnt loads from the game and we are already looking forward to next week.”

Coach Christian Battye added the side were quickly learning from any errros made and fine-tuning.

“The team is in the middle of a phase of pretty intense learning, so things will look a bit messy and go wrong, which is fine,” he said.

"We’ll have one of the youngest sides in the league but we’ll also be competitive. I was really happy with the second half – we’ve got a team that will work very hard for each other.”

An experienced and well organised Ashbourne side adjusted faster to the wet conditions and found themselves two goals up within the opening twenty minutes.

Chesterfield rallied and pulled a goal back through Lindsay Vaughan, before the visitors doubled their lead again.

A much improved Chesterfield emerged after the interval however and began exert a greater influence on proceedings. Skipper Ruth Elliot pulled a goal back after smart combination play with Vaughan and soon after winger Lauren Walton drew the scores level with a powerful finish after a surging run. The goal capped a fine afternoon for the midfielder, who also walked away with the player of the match award.

At 3-3, the momentum was with Chesterfield who looked fitter and faster than their opponents. Maisie Prigent and Kelly Thring helped control the midfield, whilst the pace of Beth Davies and Amelie Young proved to be a constant threat.

Although the hosts applied serious pressure to the Ashbourne defence, they couldn’t find a way through and were caught on the break to trail once again at 4-3.

More good Chesterfield possession followed but they conceded an unfortunate late goal to leave the final score at 5-3.