By Seren Nelson-Roberts
UNIVERSITY of South Wales women’s hockey 1sts ran out 3-1 winners against University of Gloucestershire at the USW Sport Park.
Two goals from USW’s Ailish James and one from Rosie Crosby in the first half meant it was an uphill battle for the visitors, who ended up scoring via Morgan Fletcher.
In the third minute, Gloucestershire gave away a penalty which saw James open the scoring.
The home side doubled their lead with Crosby chipping the ball over the keeper to make it 2-0 in the ninth minute.
James doubled her tally in the 26th minute, which gave the away side a mountain to climb at half-time.
USW continued to dominate possession in the second half, maintaining pressure through an abundance of short corners.
Despite the momentum being with the home side, in the 50th minute Gloucestershire’s Fletcher scored from a short corner to give them hope.
Yet USW might have gone further ahead in the 55th minute when Ella Morgan broke through the away defence only to be denied by some superb defence from Michaela Wakeford.
By the end of the match Gloucestershire were clearly improving but ultimately it was USW’s attacking threat in the first half that won them the game.