Pendle Forest Hockey Club search for first win

Pendle Forest Hockey Club’s first team are still searchig for their first win of the season.

The side played away at Brooklands Poynton on Saturday, drawing 2-2.

Forest started slowly and weren’t able to play the ball out of their own half for the first 15 minutes.

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Player of the match Jayne Kirkpatrick made some fantastic saves to keep Poynton out and the score level at 0-0.

Unfortunately, a Poynton player got hit in the face with the ball midway through the first half, leading to a prolonged delay.

This gave Forest time to regroup and change formation to become more attacking.

As soon as the match restarted, Forest were on the attack and created a number of chances.

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From Forest’s first short corner, Catherine Waters shot towards goal, only for a Poynton player to stop the ball on the line with her leg, resulting in a penalty flick.

Dani Atherton stepped up to take the flick and slotted it away in the right corner.

Forest continued to press forward, and a fantastic through ball from Deb Bythell split the Poynton defence and found Michelle Smith on the right wing.

Smith drove to the back line and crossed for Karen Wignall to hit the ball under the goalkeeper to put Forest 2-0 up.

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Wignall had a one on one chance to put Forest 3-0 up but the Poynton goalkeeper made a good save to keep her out.

Forest sat back a little and were made to pay just before half-time when Poynton pushed the ball towards goal.

Kirkpatrick was unsighted and the ball slipped in the corner for the score to be 2-1 at half-time.

In the second half Forest sat back and invited pressure from Poynton.

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The match descended into a verbal and physical battle with both teams clearly wanting to win.

Forest’s forward line of Smith, Wignall and Hayley Baines did a lot of running and provided outlets to release the pressure on the defence, but were thwarted by the Poynton defence.

With five minutes to go, the pressure on the defence told when Poynton equalised from a well-worked short corner.