Dogged North Devon Hockey Club sink Tiverton White Eagles

Chaos, confusion and three fabulous points — a classic day out for North Devon, who welcomed Tiverton White Eagles to home turf for what was always going to be a spicy encounter.

In the first half, North came out firing, linking passes beautifully and stretching Tiverton’s defence. Rachel Parsons, Shauna Vetch, Kalena Tucker and Jess Ravenhill-White peppered the D with balls, keeping the keeper under pressure in the early exchanges.

The breakthrough was unconventional to say the least: Nell Thomas crossed the opposition’s 23-metre line and launched a ferocious ball toward Kirstie Hughes. What followed was either a moment of genius or complete chaos: a wicked deflection that looped perfectly into the top corner. Training ground routine. 1–0 North.

Then came Parsons, whose manifesting of goals and positive vibes saw her double the lead, calmly slotting home a second to make it 2-0.

Kirsty Crocker stood firm in midfield to quell any response from Tiverton on the break, supported at the back by Helen Thomas, Nell Thomas, Emily Shawcross and Katie MacKeith, who were so calm they could’ve been doing a guided meditation. Casually switching the ball side to side, they slowly drained Tiverton of hope.

Eventually, the ball found Parsons again, who happily bagged another. 3–0. Joey Lester in goal was having a lovely afternoon soaking up the sun, with little to trouble her between the sticks!

Despite one particularly heavy collision, in which one of Tiverton’s defenders decided that the best route forward was directly through Hughes, ignoring several metres of completely open space, North’s dominance continued. Sensing an opportunity, Ravenhil-White got in on the action to slam home number four.

Tiverton, to their credit, decided they’d quite like to join in on the goals. After some defensive confusion (we’ll call it a “crossover”, generously — there were a few), they earned a short corner. They made it count, firing a rocket in off the left post. 4–1.

Despite their brief excitement, Edie Milan found space at the opposite end and called for the ball; player of the match Parsons duly played her in to bag North’s 5th and final goal.

All in all: goals, graft, confusion and just the right amount of chaos. Who’d have it any other way?

Elsewhere, the Men’s 1s lost narrowly on the road to Bude 1s, the Men’s 2s achieved a vital victory over Exeter 3s at home, and the Ladies’ 2s won 1-2 away to Chard 2s.