Repton And Army Lift Silverware After Cup Final Wins

Evie Grindal scored twice as Repton beat Liverpool Sefton 4-1 in the Tier 2 final at Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre.

Captain Sally Walton set the tone, opening the scoring for Repton with a fine finish inside the opening five minutes, and Grindal doubled the lead before the first quarter was out.

Sefton battled hard to stay in the contest and created a couple of half-chances themselves, though they were largely kept on the back foot by a lively Repton and Hannah Tjon Soei Len was next to go close.

Walton also saw a shot saved by her opposing skipper Jen Ratcliffe before setting up Daisy Bennett to add a third in the final minute of the first half.

The Merseyside outfit started the second period on top and a marauding run by Hannah Gavigan earned them a penalty corner, from which Renee Ojikutu was denied by a fine Izzi Evans save.

Ratcliffe was called into action at the other end to keep Len at bay and before long Sefton were back in the game, a swift break finished by Kirsty McMillan to the delight of the sizeable travelling support.

Chances came at both ends throughout an even second period, Ratcliffe pulling off an excellent double save to frustrate Phillippa Jowett and Grindal before Jane Bazley-Harrison saw her well-struck effort kept out following a Sefton penalty corner.

Grindal twice came close to adding to her tally late on, putting one shot wide before seeing another stopped by Ratcliffe, while Walton also fired narrowly past the post as Repton finished strongly.

And they put the icing on the cake with two minutes remaining when Grindal fired a terrific reverse stick finish into the far corner.

Sunday’s curtain-raiser saw The Army lift the Tier 3 trophy after defeating Nottingham Trent 3-0.

It took just 11 minutes for the opening goal of the morning to arrive, courtesy of Nic George, and the first half remained largely one-way traffic.

A penalty corner was converted by Heidi Devey on the half-hour mark to double the advantage and May Percival was denied from their next such opportunity as pressure continued to be applied.

Trent came close to halving the deficit before the break, captain Nicole Hull seeing her effort go wide after a rapid counter-attack, but the buzzer sounded with Army two goals to the good.

Melissa Nealon kept the University side in the contest with a string of impressive interventions in the third quarter, notably a double save from a penalty corner and a sprawling stop to deny Lucy Mann.

But she could do nothing to prevent Percival flicking home Lottie Woodall’s shot from a late penalty corner as Army added gloss to the scoreline with four minutes to play.