REBECCA LIGHTFOOT’S late winner gave Loch Lomond Hockey Club’s first XI their first points of 2020 on Saturday thanks to a hard-earned 1-0 defeat of their Dumfries counterparts at Hermitage Academy.

Loch Lomond were raring to go after a great team talk from player/coach Rosie McColgan, and with the blue sky peeking through, Loch Lomond stepped out on to their home pitch with a strong desire to win this game.

From the start, both teams came out fighting with Loch Lomond showing some great play down the wings trying to keep Dumfries to the right side.

The defence made some great play round the back with Sue Aikman, Fiona Thompson, Sharon Crossan and Vanesa Sabala all working well together ensuring the ball was kept in Loch Lomond possession.

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Kirsten Bruce made some great runs, creating opportunities, with Eliza Ritchie and Rosie McColgan supporting down the wings, but neither team was able to break the deadlock in the first half.

After a well needed water break at half time, the same squad started the second half strongly; Dumfries made some great hits up the pitch, but the home strikers and midfielders did a great job at preventing the ball going through to the danger zone and worked well at keeping the ball wide to keep the middle of the pitch secure.

Loch Lomond created some great play down the wings, passing back and forth around the Dumfries players.

Through a great team effort, Loch Lomond created five scoring opportunities, which resulted in penalty corners, but were unable to make any of them count.

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However, after some good pressure from the home side, McColgan fired the ball to the right-hand post where Lightfoot was able to slot the ball home with just four minutes to go.

Loch Lomond tried really hard to put the game out of sight with a second goal, but more importantly they managed to keep the ball in the opposition’s half for the last few minutes, stopping Dumfries having any chance of an equaliser. A great result for Loch Lomond after both teams put in a great performance.

Dumfries chose Vanesa Sabala as their Loch Lomond player of the match, while Loch Lomond’s own player of the match was Kirsten Bruce for her hard work. Runners up were Elaine Brown and Fiona Thompson.

Many thanks to Ellen Murray and Andy Richardson for umpiring.

Squad: Elaine Brown, Vicki Perry, Sue Aikman, Sophia McDermott, Vanesa Sabala (capt), Sharon Crossan, Eliza Ritchie, Rebecca Lightfoot, Rosie McColgan, Kirsten Bruce, Fiona Thompson, Molly Macken, Heather Cullen, Kim McCallion and Bongiwe Tshabalala.

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