Last week Morpeth received a drubbing at the hands of Roseberry and this week had the unenviable task of facing the strength and experience of Don Valley. Never a challenge for the lighthearted.

Cockburn having had a week to deliberate and lose sleep over what had gone wrong subtly shuffled some of her positions and experimented with new possibilities. It paid off.

In the first 15 minutes Morpeth played the most effective and fluent hockey they have played for several seasons much to the excitement of the team themselves – Rose was impressed into silence. Short passes and confidence in each other’s play was the key to them being 2-0 up within 6 minutes. Welcome back Team Morpeth.

Jones was quite magnificent down the right flank. She made the first goal by dribbling along the byline and crossing a la textbook straight to the penalty spot. Dixon was goal hanging and swept with deft hands into the roof of the net. So simple yet so brilliant.

Bowler proved to be an inspirational switch to the right working hard to break up play and adding penetration to the Morpeth attack. She was a deserved man of the match and never more so than when she created and scored the second goal single-handedly. She picked up the ball on the 25 yard line and drove forwards utilising her exceptional speed into the D. No-one from Don Valley came to her so she took her chance and struck fiercely towards goal. The keeper flailed a leg valiantly but couldn’t get to the shot which rocketed into the bottom left hand corner.

There were more opportunities for Morpeth. Wardle struck from the top of the D but it was straight at the keeper. Moore broke through the Don Valley defence regularly but failed to capitalise on her chances. They maintained pressure well for the first half with some marvellous 1-2 play between Cockburn and the attack.

In the second half Don Valley changed their formation and pushed an extra player up front forcing Hindmarch to mark. This, for some reason, unsettled Morpeth who once again returned to utilizing the long ball as opposed to what they had done so effectively early on. This resulted in them moving further apart from one another on the pitch.

Don Valley inevitably scored. It was a straightforward deflection in the D which left Rose unusually utterly stranded. This goal left Morpeth somewhat stunned as Valley had been looking for a deflection all game but the defence had been so wise to it up until that moment.

Pattinson made an excellent return to the team adding muscle to the defence but also adding power to the drives of the attack.

Morpeth must continue to raise their game with two local derbies coming up in the next two weeks but this was a very positive platform from which to build.

Team list: Janice Rose (GK), Karen Hindmarch, Jenny Pattinson, Lynn Watkins, Marian Simpson, Nikki Bowler, Emma Cockburn (capt), Sarah Henderson, Katie Wardle, Lucy Dixon, Lindsey Moore, Tracey Jones, Charlotte O’Brien

Man of the Match – Nikki Bowler

Match sponsored by Kit and Sticks