Hockey girls hammer Inverleith in cracking cup opener

A superb team performance saw Shetland’s women’s hockey squad take a thumping 10-0 victory over Inverleith Ladies 2 in their first round of the Scottish District Cup.

Kristan Robertson opened the scoring for Shetland following a run from Victoria Duthie. The second goal was almost identical to the first, again following a strong run from Duthie.

Shetland were awarded their first penalty corner 15 minutes into the match. The goalbound shot was cleared by Inverleith but the ball fell again to Shetland who played it back into the circle. Emma Inkster was poised to play a tremendous sweep to make the score 3-0.

The Shetland central duo of Nicola Balfour and Aimee Keith were dominating play and cutting out passes from the Inverleith defence.

Following one of these interceptions Keith had a tremendous solo run, finishing with a great strike from the top of the circle for Shetland’s fourth goal.

Shetland made another fast break through Victoria Duthie who struck the ball to the back post where Nicola Johnston stood anticipating and finished convincingly to stretch Shetland’s lead to five before the break.

Shetland started the second half with the same format as the first and their continued pressure saw a penalty corner awarded with just one minute gone.

Kristan Robertson passed to Megan Hibbert and Aimee Keith slipped the ball right to Nicola Balfour who made no mistake and sent a thunderous shot past the keeper.

Shetland continued to press and the seventh goal came from a Kristan Robertson cross across the face of the goal to a determined Johnston to finish.

Inverleith’s keeper had to contend with several short-range attempts at goal before Johnston struck the ball to gain her hat trick.

Shetland gained possession again almost immediately from the passback and another strong run from Duthie saw her get to the baseline. Her cutback to the penalty spot resulted in a shot which was saved only to see Duthie continue her movement across the circle to finish with a reverse-stick strike.

Twenty minutes into the second half Inverleith made a break forward and shifted the ball to the left. Kristan Sands was able to take a shot on goal but it was saved by Rebekah Laurenson which enabled Shetland to keep their clean sheet.

Inverleith enjoyed a few minutes of better possession, switching the ball and working the Shetland defence. However, the Shetland players were up to the task and always alert and kept any attacks at bay.

Shetland finished the match strongly searching for their 10th goal and were rewarded when an excellent through ball from Rhiannon Inkster found Robertson on the base line. She fired the ball across the face of the goal to Johnston who took her time and calmly slotted home to claim her fourth and Shetland’s final goal.

More in Friday’s Shetland Times.