Tynedale ladies hockey dropped to sixth place in the Northumberland A league after earning a hard-fought 2-2 draw with Jesmond Parish Church first team at the weekend.

With a good squad of 12 players Tynedale started positively continuing the flowing interlinking passing that has been developing well this season.

The defence held strong as JPC had a couple of early efforts blocked.

An early penalty flick awarded to JPC was brilliantly saved by the stick of captain Emma Sanderson on the goal line.

Shortly afterwards, JPC finally scored as a penalty corner saw the ball cross in front of the goal with a JPC player slotting the ball into the goal at the right post.

At 1-0 down Tynedale continued to press hard.

Driving out of midfield, accurate passing from player of the match midfielder Victoria Foster to Alison Westworth saw the rapidly improving junior captain Naomi Garner arrive at the right post.

Her excellent connection resulted in a well-deserved equaliser.

At 1-1 the increasingly physical game saw chances for both sides come and go. Tynedale won a series of short corners.

Their second goal came courtesy of a thunderous strike from Sarah Martindale find it’s way neatly inside the left post.

Tynedale held the lead at 2-1 for nearly the entire of the second half.

Fairly shared substitutions saw Tynedale maintain their momentum whilst the defence continued to hold JPC and Tynedale were awarded a penalty flick of their own midway through the second half, but unfortunately it wasn’t converted into a goal.

Within the last five minutes of the game a steady stream of penalty corners were awarded to JPC.

And in the last minute a final penalty corner saw them score the equalising goal as the ball was sent into the back of the goal at the right post.

A frustrating draw for Tynedale maybe – but they continue to play great hockey with great comradeship and team spirit as they reach the midway point of the Northumberland league.