The ladies O35s welcomed Old Cranleighans in the latest round of the England Hockey tier 2 national mas-ters cup. Ops started strongly with midfield trio Steph Mill, Ashley Taylor & Adrienne Rowe picking the ball up and releasing forwards Em Pullen, Nicki Ball & Livy Cheap to put early pressure on a strong Old Cran-leighans defence. Despite some excellent movement Ops were unable to find the breakthrough. Cran-leighans put together some strong attacks of their own but the defensive unit of Gill Steer, Vicki Baxter, Polly Ritchie & Jo Bryen were equal to the task, breaking down play before it became dangerous. Ops had a chance to pull ahead just before half time but Ball’s snapshot was well saved by the Cranleighans keeper leaving the game balanced at half time.

Ops came out in the second half knowing that they had every chance to take the lead and their hard work was rewarded when Ball crossed a pinpoint ball to Rowe who drew the keeper out of position before drop-ping off Cheap. The pace & spin of Cheap’s shot from an acute angle fooled everyone as it snuck in at the near post. Cranleighans were never going to sit back and stepped up their own attacks, forcing their way through the Ops defence to find an equaliser. Cranleighans were buoyed by their goal and won a series of short corners but were unable to convert thanks to the strong clearances of keeper Amy Bumstead and an excellent goal line reaction stop from Ritchie. With the game balanced, both teams decided to push for a winner. Taylor turned over the ball in midfield, finding Rowe out wide who fed Pullen down the wing. Pullen drove for the D, drawing the Cranleighans defence and keeper out of position, and crossed to Natalie Harvey, unmarked at the back post, who slipped into the open goal. Cranleighans were determined to get back on level terms again but the defensive play of Ops kept them at bay.
An excellent game against high quality opposition, the ladies now move into the quarter finals and await the draw for their opponents.