FLEET & EWSHOT 2, ALTON 3

ALTON Ladies redeemed themselves this week with a hard-fought win against Fleet & Ewshot who began the day placed second in the Hampshire Women’s Division Two.

Alton defended calmly under pressure early on, but then Fleet won a penalty corner and the ball was cleanly dispatched into the bottom corner.

This was a wake-up call for Alton who responded with a neat passing move, calmly finished off by an unmarked Maya Morrison.

Alton’s improved team-work earned them a series of chances and Kat Gilbert gave them the lead with a shoulder-height shot that gave the goalkeeper no chance.

The home side came back strongly in the second half and several penalty corners were efficiently cleared by the Alton defence.

Centre-forward Jenny Rust had largely been marked out of the game, but hung high to give Alton the early option on the break.

On a rare counter-attack, Morrison skilfully drew the defender into a tackle, beat her, and passed to the goal-hanging Rust who rounded the keeper to score Alton’s third.

Fleet’s determination was rewarded with a tap-in goal and as the play heated up towards the end, they thought they had saved a point when the ball hit an Alton foot on the line and they were awarded a penalty.

However, Louise Yeadon made a fantastic save and Alton ran the clock down to take all three points and return to second in the league table.