Honiton Hornets 2, ISCA IV 5 Honiton Hornets gave a very good account of themselves before succumbing to a defeat to third-in-the-table Isca IV, writes Sophie George.

Hornets took a little while to settle into their passing game whilst the visitors slipped into gear straight away and this enabled them to bag three early goals to take command of the contest.

Honiton dug deep and showed great character to continue to stick to their principles of a passing game.

There endeavour was rewarded with a short corner following some excellent attacking play from Lucy Le Coq and Jean Herniman. Amy Phillips took the initial strike and forced the ISCA keeper to make the save, but she didn’t clear the ball out of danger and Sophie George was able to tuck it away to reduce the arrears before the break.

In the second half the visitors increased their lead with an early goal, but Honiton enjoyed more periods of dominance. Sami Williams and Becky Bond made some great tackles at the back to frustrate the ISCA attackers and Sue Stone, Denise Underhill and Vicky Morris also worked hard to keep the powerful visitors at arms length. When the defence cleared the ball from an Isca raid, it fell to Katrina Tucker who traded passes with George before producing a stunning reverse stick strike from the edge of the circle that flew past the visiting keeper.

The next goal was going to be crucial and it fell to the visitors for them to seal a hard-earned, but deserved, success.

A big positive for Hornets was how completive they were collectively against one of the top teams in the section. Everyone worked extremely hard together to produce some great periods of hockey and two well-deserved goals. The Player of the Match award went to Katrina Tucker with Jean Herniman also featuring highly in the votes.