Holcombe women’s 1sts reach England Hockey Tier One Cup Semi-Finals with 4-3 win against Wimbledon 2nds

By Lucas Ball

Holcombe women’s 1sts reached the Semi-Finals of the England Hockey Tier One Cup, winning 4-3 at home against Wimbledon 2nds courtesy of strikes by two-goal Jade van der Zwan, Emma Bandurak and Hattie Jones on Sunday.

The two sides had met the previous weekend in Vitality Division 1 South and were due to face Southgate and Barnes respectively on Saturday - but both games were postponed due to the weather.

Second-placed Holcombe won the previous match 5-1 at Raynes Park High School - with this encounter proving a much closer affair.

Hannah Bond came closest to opening the scoring for the hosts, driving in from the left after good work from van der Zwan, to force a save from Katherine Don-Wauchope.

But Phoebe Barnett gave the visitors a first-quarter lead with just over a minute to play in a low-key opening period.

Holcombe started the second quarter quickly, van der Zwan playing a dangerous ball across goal which evaded everyone before Tilly Tillings - looking for her first Holcombe goal - was twice denied by Don-Wauchope.

Wimbledon also came close on the counter, as she deflected just wide around five minutes into the second period.

Two minutes later, Holcombe were level, however, with van der Zwan expertly deflecting captain Harriet Pittard’s slap home.

Soon after, Nick Bandurak’s side - coached by Rob Brunt with Bandurak away on international duty - won another penalty corner. Emma Bandurak made no mistake from the spot as Holcombe completed a quick-fire turnaround.

Catherine Ledesma almost extended Holcombe’s lead but her reverse effort was deflected over by a defender after a mazy run before Phoebe Steele twice came close from two penalty corners just before half-time.

The first of those hit the post