Dereham Ladies 7, Chelmsford 0A WET and windy day did not halt Dereham from thoroughly demolishing Chelmsford by 7-0.Evie Gardner opened the scoring after a few minutes and the second was soon in the back of the net through Hannah Palmer.

Dereham Ladies 7, Chelmsford 0

A WET and windy day did not halt Dereham from thoroughly demolishing Chelmsford by 7-0.

Evie Gardner opened the scoring after a few minutes and the second was soon in the back of the net through Hannah Palmer.

The defence was solid with Chloe Hobson in central defence. The Chelmsford forwards hardly entered the D and when they did the attack was snuffed out and the ball quickly transferred upfield.

Kath Malvern scored the third from a short corner followed a fourth from Hooly Allen, a fifth from Evie Gardner and the sixth from Hannah Palmer.

The only goal in the second half came from Evie Gardner.

Old Loughtonians U16 8, Dereham U16 2

THE Dereham girls made the trek to Chigwell in Essex for their first action in the England Hockey Association Cup.

The girls certainly flew the Dereham flag with pride and endeavour. Player-of-the-match Laura Bailey was a thorn in the opposition's side with her intelligent runs into the D and a well-taken goal from a short-corner variation to bring the score to 2-1.

Imy Crookes also looked strong when carrying the ball out of defence and setting up attacks down the right.

Captain and keeper Nat Grapes had to deal with some heavy bombardment and saved the day on numerous occasions when the defence left her exposed. In midfield Kate Lavers displayed some strong tackling and neat distribution.

Bex Haxell finished off a slick move down the right to bring the score to 5-2. The Old Loughts' side proved just too strong and added three more goals.

This competition was previously an U15 category but with England Hockey changing the rules it meant Dereham's young side were facing older opposition. The game proved to be a strong learning curve for the talented squad. Lessons learned will hold them in good stead for their next game which will now be in the plate competition on November 29.

Squad: Natasha Grapes, Chloe Cushion-Swales, Imogen Crookes, Sam Colman, Kim Hazell, Alice Waters, Hannah Barnard, Kate Lavers, Rebecca Shepherd, Rebecca Hazell, Laura Bailey, Neola Bush, Rebecca Smith-Ames.