Pendle Forest 5

Liverpool Sefton 0

RECORD-breaking Pendle Forest Hockey Club carried on from where they left off last season after kicking off their campaign with a superb 5-0 win over Liverpool Sefton.

Forest were promoted to the North Premier Division without losing a single game last season but they expected a tough opener - especially as they were up against a side who were playing National League hockey last term.

As expected it was a nervy start for Forest in their first game at this level.

After a tense first half, with Forest having the better chances, the message from the sideline was to stay solid for the remaining five minutes of the period.

But the Forest forward line had other ideas and in a devastating spell just before the break, they scored three times in four minutes.

Charlotte Hartley opened the scoring when she made a run on the edge of the D and, although tightly marked, she still managed to get the reverse shot away finding the bottom right corner to give Forest the lead.

Two minutes later, Hartley pressurised the Liverpool keeper and after her effort and Freya Bythell’s follow up were blocked, the ball fell into the path of Thea Cormack who fired home to make it 2-0.

And a third goal arrived a minute before the half time whistle when the lively Hartley poached the ball from the opposition, then glided past a defender and fired it across goal and into the net.

While Hartley’s double and Cormack’s goal put Forest well on top at the break, their defensive tackling - particularly by Dani Hornby - was also key to keeping Liverpool at bay.

Forest continued to fire on all cylinders in the second half as they refused to sit back and protect their three goal lead.

Continuous effort in midfield earned Liv Bythell player of the match for breaking down play and cutting out options for the young Liverpool side.

This helped Forest control their advantage and allowed them to capitalise 15 minutes in to the half when Freya Bythell intercepted a hit out and quickly released the pass to Hartley, who took on two defenders and drove around the keeper to sweep home and to complete her hat-trick.

Hartley then turned provider as she managed to pull the ball back from the back line into the goal mouth for Cormack to make no mistake to make it 5-0.

A late attack by Liverpool momentarily caught the Forest defence out but goalkeeper Laura Kendall made a diving save to preserve the clean sheet.

The win puts them top of table ahead of a home game against Whitley Bay at Marsden Heights on Saturday (1.30pm).

n Pendle Forest Thirds began their season against Windermere.

In what proved to be a close contest, Windermere opened the scoring despite the best efforts of defender Beccy Bell and keeper Jane Lofthouse.

Forest, with Emily Dunleavy and Charlotte O’Brien pulling the strings in midfield, hit back when Emma Ziegloser equalised.

But Windermere grabbed a winner with a well worked short corner routine just before the break.