KS Cougars 2,

Team Bath

Buccaneers 0

On Saturday the Cougars arrived at their home pitch looking to deliver a better performance than in their midweek cup game.

With all of their sponsors and supporters pitchside looking forward to the early season raffle draw after the game, KS also had a special spectator in ’88 Olympic Hockey gold medal winner Sean Kerly.

Bath Buccs came out of the blocks at pace and the opening exchanges led to a gritty and untidy end to end affair.

KS pushed hard to score early but were denied in some frantic goal mouth scrambles.

Claire Jones was needed on top form as the Cougars D frequently became a melee of players, making several key saves and smothers to keep the score at 0-0 through the first half.

As Bath applied good pressure down the right, Rachel Rob­erts put the workrate in to deny her opposite wingers.

Making her second appearance, Bella Slade put in another solid show.

The Cougars were made to work hard throughout the first half as the game often broke down, with the score remaining 0-0 at the break.

KS set up to make more use of the corners to stretch the Bath defence in the second half.

Leading from the front captain Chloe Harvey switched on in the tackle, tracking and picking the ball at every opportunity.

Emily Read took charge of the right midfield, and bringing a large dose of feisty from the back, Fi Wa­dey stepped up to deny the passing option behind the KS press.

Giving 110 per cent, Fern Tucker picked up a green card in the tackle as she put in another trooper’s performance.

Continuing to persevere, KS soon began to put pressure back in place on Buccs.

With a more concentrated press in place, Laura Kerly was quick to pounce and rob the isolated defender in the tackle before stepping clear and beating the ‘keeper to open the scoring for the Kings­bridge side.

After being sidelined for five minutes after being awarded a yellow card, Bex Darke worked hard to redeem herself with a killer pass to create the Cougars’ second goal.

She fed an outstanding early ball through to find vice-captain Helen Symons in the channel, who beat two defenders and the ‘keeper with a sublime piece of skill to score.

Cara Yeoman put in several great spells during the second half on debut as KS had steadily built their performance, finishing the match comfortably holding possession.

After the final whistle KS joined their key sponsors for team photo moments with a genuine hockey legend as Sean Kerly provided the golden touch to the raffle draw, as always a the club’s thanks goes to all of the sponsors for their ongoing support.

At post match teas player of the match was tied between Chloe Harvey and Lou Read, and coaches’ player went to Claire Guard for a great performance between the posts.

The squad was joined by Sean for teas and hockey chat at the Church House Inn.

All at KS Cougars thank Sean for his time and support.

The win sees KS take a clear third place in the league as the teams come into the mid season break.

Devon Cup

KS Cougars 2,

Tavistock 2

In the Devon Cup on Thursday, KS struggled to get going against a slick Tavistock performance.

The Cougars came from behind twice through a penalty flick from Helen Symons in the first half and then a standout drive and rifled shot from Laura Kerly in the last minutes to scrape a 2-2 draw.

This meant the tie went to penalty flicks.

With the teams tied at 12 all, the floodlights automatically turned off and the fixture will have to be replayed in full by late December, with the new date to be confirmed.