THE sun shone brightly for Kingsbridge & Salcombe HC 1's match against league leaders Teign 1. Prior to the game, a one-minute silence was held to remember Kelly Luscombe, a great player who will be sorely missed by the community.

Teign had the early edge and got several shots off, only for GK Ellie to match them superbly, not shying away.

Despite fantastic energy from Tess to come off the line and block the strike from a short corner, a solid short saw KS eventually fall behind.

This didn’t deter KS who worked to build in some skilful and connected passing resulting in several promising breaks, especially down the right with Maddie and Gen leading the charge.

Silky dribbling from Rachel made KS feel their equaliser was coming. Unfortunately, following one of these promising moments, Rachel saw the close-up of a back stick which led to a head injury and a rightly, lengthy break from play whilst the heroes with medical bags did their work.

When played resume, Helen picked out Laura who beat the keeper only for the umpires to rule it out, the ball hadn’t travelled five metres before entering the D.

A notable defensive effort saw KS continue to limit Teign but the opposition’s persistence meant that they grabbed a second on a fast break.

Teign made it 3-0 in the final ten minutes to secure the victory and, when the full-time whistle went, KS reflected that although not the win they sought, it was improvement from the last fixture against Teign.

Nat was named as player of the match due to her strong tackling and determination in defence. Thanks, as always, go to the umpires Neil and Roger and to the Creeks End for the match teas. Next week’s match sees them travel away to Dart.