Macclesfield Hockey Club Ladies 1^st XI bounced back in style from last week’s defeat to Knutsford, with a fantastic 4-1 victory over Runcorn Ladies on Saturday.

In their first away game of the season Macclesfield made the journey over with a great team spirit and determination to put in a good performance against last season’s 3^rd place finishers.

Macclesfield started the better of the two sides with some good flowing hockey across the team. Macclesfield had opportunities to take the lead with good counter attacking hockey, breaking the Runcorn defence several times but unfortunately could not put the ball in the back of the net.

Just as the visitors looked like scoring again, a smart passing sequence from Runcorn broke through the Macclesfield defence and presented the home side with their first scoring opportunity which they duly took, making the score 1-0 but against the run of play.

Instead of letting the slight set back affect them, the goal galvanized Macclesfield who then went on to improve more and more in the first half and create chances to level the game. Macclesfield began to look like the stronger team and took hold of the game as the half time whistle blew and did not deserve to be a goal down.

After the break Macclesfield came out with real determination and picked up the pace of the game. The passing between players was sharper and off the ball running much improved, which allowed them to spend greater periods of time in the opponents half and create even more chances to score. After breaking through Runcorn’s defence, the ball fell to Wheeler’s feet and she finished the move well to put the ball past the keeper, who up until that point had kept them in the game.

With the score at 1-1, Macclesfield knew they could go on to win and began to take a firmer grip on the game with their midfield dominating proceedings and the wingers making mazy runs through the Runcorn players. Another well worked attack saw Macclesfield break through and after a rebound Heylings made a great reach to put the ball in the back of the net to make the score 2-1 and a truer reflection of the game.

Macclesfield’s defence were called upon and did their job very well to keep Runcorn at bay giving the team confidence to press more when in the opposition’s half. After applying heaps of pressure Macclesfield were rewarded with a series of short corners. The ball was injected to Barlow at the top of the ‘D’ who struck the ball crisply to the right hand post where Ward was left unmarked and able to sweep the ball past the Runcorn player on the line. A two goal advantage to the visitors frustrated the Runcorn players who didn’t look able to mount a comeback. Shortly after making the score 3-1, Macclesfield were awarded another short corner which Barlow scored by striking the ball through the keeper’s legs. At 4-1 the game was pretty much over and Macclesfield remained strong until the final whistle to take all 3 points.
Man of the Match went to Heylings and Players Player went to Seymour-Julen.