The Isle of Man women’s B hockey team inflicted an 8-1 thrashing on Northallerton in the second round of the England Hockey Tier Three Plate competition at the NSC on Saturday.

The island women started the game well and enjoyed a lot of procession during the first few minutes, therefore gaining good ground going forwards.

The breakthrough came in the sixth minute where IoM captain Emily Middleton found the back of the net.

Despite still finding their feet as a composite side, the Isle of Man side grew into the game and began to produce some nice movement on and off the ball.

It wasn’t long before the next Manx goal arrived in the 12th minute from Rachel Middleton mopping up on the keeper’s pads.

Northallerton proved to be particularly strong in the middle of the park where they defended in numbers.

But this congested midfield meant that the Isle of Man wing backs could get forward into space which ultimately led to left wing back Rebecca Ormesher scoring her first senior hockey goal.

The Manx team added another goal just before half-time when Middleton got her name on the scoresheet for a second time to ensure the home side led 4-0 at half-time.

A very positive team talk and some positional changes to try some new set-ups out made way for the best goal of the game after the interval.

Starting from a defensive hit out, the ball was cleverly played all the way through with small passes among six players all the way into the D for Morven Smith to slot home.

Northallerton were able to pull a goal back through Sadie Robinson, but this only served to reignite the impetus from the Manx side.

The hosts won several penalty corners, with one making its way to the back post to find Ela Blakemore for a solid deflection into the net.

The island women continued the positive attacking play and only some fantastic saves from goalkeeper Rachel Swain and great defending from Northallerton’s centre-back Hannah Chapman kept the island at bay for a while.

But normal service was resumed when Evie Watterson made a fine run to finish with a goal, before Lucy Cartwright got in on the act to round off the scoring with a top D strike from a penalty corner.

The score finished 8-1, therefore the island women now progress to the quarter-final draw.

The team side would like to thank the Woodbourne for hosting the teas after the game for both teams and the umpires.

KIM CARNEY