HOCKEY: Four wins in a row for Carrick

Having lost to this same side by a 3-1 margin earlier in the season, this was a particularly satisfying result for the entire Carrick team and their coaches, Neil McConnell and Gary McIlroy.

They opened the scoring with only 10 minutes on the clock when Christine Waide finished off one of her trademark mazy runs as she cut through the Grosvenor defence down the right side of the pitch to squeeze the ball past the keeper at the narrowest of angles.

And only three minutes later, Amy Cross delivered another devastating blow to Grosvenor when she hammered the ball home only a minute after seeing the same goalkeeper palm away her fiercely-struck shot which had been heading for the roof of the net.

Worse was yet to follow for the luckless visitors when Jill Leslie and Chloe Mitchell produced another of their increasingly impressive double acts with Leslie sliding the ball along the backline for Mitchell to slip it home.

Grosvenor might almost have staged the comeback of the season not long after the second-half commenced as, having already pulled one back from a breakaway strike, they were denied twice in succession by two excellent diving saves by home goalkeeper Karen Nelson.

Carrick weathered the storm and controlled the remainder of the game with Cross firing her second of the afternoon to secure the win.

Carrick’s player of the match award was shared between Cross and Waide.

“We can always expect a closely-fought match against Grosvenor,” said Carrick captain Lois Passmore after the match, “although we were bitterly disappointed in our opening encounter this season when we played really good hockey at Grosvenor but, due to a couple of unforced errors at the back, we eventually ended up on the wrong end of a 3-1 scoreline.

“Today was a completely different matter, and while they gave us a brief scare early in the second half, I don’t think the final outcome was ever really in doubt. The entire team played superbly and I cannot praise my players enough for their effort and gameplay throughout the entire match.

“To be honest, we’ve been playing nice hockey for most of the season and I can think of only a couple of games where we let ourselves down and didn’t deserve anything. It hasn’t always been easy, however, converting our approach play into goals and keeping our composure at the back. But we’ve now won four games in a row scoring no fewer than 14 in the process.”

“Looking ahead, we haven’t always responded well to the mid-season break as we’ve sometimes tended to lose momentum early in the New Year. Hopefully, this won’t happen this season. While I’d like to wish all my players a very Merry Christmas and encourage them to enjoy the usual festivities, we need to pick up exactly where we’ve left off today. And that means a win in Castlederg on January 5 when we’ll be looking to do the double on Derg Valley for our first time ever. That surely has to be a challenge worth fighting for,” she added.