Donaghadee Ladies Hockey Club were in action last Saturday for the final time before the Christmas break when South Antrim came to Bangor Academy. The current standings in the league table see the Dee sitting in 5th position on 15 points with 5 wins and 5 defeats to date. Ballynahinch LHC are in 4th on 20 points with Cooke just below the Dee on 14 points so the middle section of the table is looking tight at the halfway stage. While newly promoted South Antrim are some way below the Dee in the table, their results have been improving as the season has progressed and Donaghadee were cautious about taking any result for granted.

With the game still very much in the balance after half time, Donaghadee knew they would have to step up their efforts if there was any chance of the three points and it didn’t take long before some play down the right yielded a reward. A horrible, bobbly cross – a total miscue and one of those ones that is a nightmare to deal with – came in from right winger Carolyn Scott and was missed by the defender on the near post. The keeper was drawn towards the ball and, with plenty of space to aim at, left wing Ruth Kennedy made no mistake to get Donaghadee up and running. A second was added shortly after with midfielder Katie Donnelly providing centre forward Kerrie Turtle with a through ball, which the centre forward gladly latched on to. Her determined burst into the circle was justly rewarded by a fine solo effort. 2-0 to the Dee.

The third and final goal for Donaghadee was arguably the best, with much of the team involved. The move started off on the Dee’s defensive left with Lisa Higgins making one of her now customary blocks to thwart the attacking right winger. The ball was passed across midfield with Leona Wells, Ali Lawther and Kerry Savage all linking up beautifully to get the ball out to the right wing where second half substitute Andrea Girvan was finding plenty of space. A swift interchange of one-two passes between Andrea and Kerry got the ball in to the South Antrim circle and Kerrie was on hand to grab her second of the match. A fine score to wrap up the 2012 portion of the 12/13 season and the Dee will be looking to carry on the winning momentum when they travel to near neighbours table-topping Holywood on Saturday 5th January. Many thanks for Will McAdam for umpiring duties, to Lisa Alexander for stepping in to his Statman’s role to record the match statistics and to Regency Cars for sponsoring this week’s match ball. All the club news, info and match pics can be found on http://www.donaghadeelhc.co.uk or Facebook/DonaghadeeLHC and in the meantime, DLHC would like to wish all their friends and supporters a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.