Women's 1st XI Vs Falmouth

Caradon travelled to Penzance on Saturday to compete in the County Cup Final against a strong Falmouth team but fell the wrong side of a 3-2 result.

With Falmouth playing in 2 leagues higher, Caradon were the clear underdogs but they started the game at a blistering pace. Determined to stick to thier attacking style of hockey Caradon were starting to find holes in the Falmouths defence. Midfielder Saffie Cripps, who was making her debut, linked well with Charlie Harris and provided the hungry forwards with threaded through balls. It was from one of these passes by Harris that Caradon took the lead. Captain, Clare Poad, latched onto a perfectly weighted ball and as her shot deflected off the keeper into the air, Helen Manley batted the ball down into the goal for a surprise early lead.

As the first half continued, Caradon held firm with strong defensive play from the whole team. Beth Harris in usual doinant form held strong and any chances created were brilliantly saved by Player of The Match, Helen Dellbridge. Falmouth were really pileing on the pressure and with lots of players in the circle causing panic and confusion for Caradon, they scored twice before the break to see them lead 2-1.

A composed half time break came at a good time for Caradon to regroup and they played with zero fear as the second half started. Olivia Childs and Bizzie Dinnis combined well to keep Falmouth on the back foot. Falmouth knew that it was not going to be easy as they were now conceeding more fouls in thier defensive quarter. One of these free hits saw Fleur Worden fire the ball towards the circle, a dummy by Childs saw Poad with just the keeper to beat and on her reverse she made no mistake.

With the scores now level it was all to play for. Julia Eldridge and Emma Gliddon were just edging thier 50/50 battles and it as against the run of play when Falmouth scored. 10 minutes were left on the clock and with the travelling supporters cheering them on, Caradon pushed hard for the equaliser. They had two great chances at penalty corners but the ball evaded the final touch by millimeters.

Falmouth retained possesion well until the end and that final chance that Caradon were pushing for never came.

Although defeat in a final is never a nice thing, Caradon were really pleased with the effort and level of team play they produced on the day. They pushed the favourites right to the wire in a fiercly contested match played in just the right sprit.

Caradon begin thier league campaign against Marjons this week.