Slaz knew that they had to beat Halifax to avoid a possible bottom three place this week. Although Halifax had been beaten soundly by Slaz the first game of the season, they had some good results under their belt and an easy game was by no means guaranteed. Slaz showed their determination to take the game to Halifax in their first attack of the game where a driving run and accurate pass by Sarah Hobbs found Claire Mills to score a great goal. Slaz continued to dominate the play and soon scored their second goal from a short corner with an Amanda Sowerby clean strike. After 20 mins a flick was awarded to Halifax which GK Eleanor Townend saved, but Halifax then managed to score against the run of play with 5 minutes on the clock to leave the half time score as 2-1 toSlaz.
The half time team talk praised the standard of hockey and impressed the importance of continuing with the passing and moving. Slaz needed to improve their goal difference in order to go above Halifax this week and the possibility of winning by 4 goals was not felt to be out of the question. Indeed, the goal difference was rapidly raised as Captain and leading goalscorer Helen Hough scored a hat-trick. Halifax managed to reply twice, firstly 10 minutes into the second half and then by way of a penalty flick but realistically the game looked out of their reach as they conceded a further three goals – a brace for Hannah Field and one from Katie Firth. Slaz did relax slightly and as well as missing a couple of opportunities, allowed Halifax to score twice in the dying minutes of the game which ended as a convincing 8-4.
Thanks to Hayley Wood for running the bench and her input at half time, to Hannah Field for stepping up from the second team and to Hobbsie for playing even though she was unwell. Next week Slaz travel to top of the League Chapeltown to try and avenge the home defeat in the first half of the season.
