Captain, Sophie Robinson, drops to the floor as Clifton Robinsons score overtime goal. Photo c/o David Kissman

England Hockey Investec Womens Cup

Beeston 1 – 2 Clifton Robinsons
Nottingham Hockey Centre – 2nd April – 12:30pm
The Whirlowdale Bees played Premier League side Clifton Robinsons on Sunday 2nd April in the semi-final of the England Hockey Cup (the Bees first Cup semi-final in history).
The final home game of the season was watched by a bumper crowd of around 300 spectators.
Beeston started the game with excellent early pressure which produced a couple of half chances and a penalty corner which was deflected just wide of the post. Cliftons first chance came after 14 minutes but the shot was blazed high and wide of the Beeston goal. The Bees were awarded a penalty corner in the 24th minute where the first shot was charged down and the second strike flashed past the face of the goal.
The game was stopped when Beeston captain, Sophie Robinson, took a tumble and was sidelined for a short while.
After a goalless first half the Bees went a goal down to Clifton when Joie Leigh calmly slotted the ball in to the Beeston net in the 48th minute.
Beeston kept the pressure on Clifton searching for the equaliser which came with ten minutes left on the clock when Sophie Robinson smashed the ball from the left hand side of the circle past the Clifton goalkeeper.
In the final ten minutes both teams were looking for the winning goal and the game was end to end. Beeston’s Rosy Stephens picked up a green card and Rachel Sharp picked up a yellow card with just 90 seconds of the game remaining.
Clifton were awarded a penalty corner with a minute remaining. The corner was charged down and another corner was awarded as the full time whistle was blown. The corner was charged down again but re-awarded to Clifton who fired home the last hit of the game and secured a place in the Cup Final at Lee Valley against Surbiton.
Beeston Coach, Colin Clarke, commented, “We are obviously gutted about the result today and the script wasn’t suppose to end like it did. However, the ladies should be immensely proud of their performance and they proved the can compete against a good Premier League side. We have an exciting future ahead of us with a fantastic group of players willing to learn. It’s been a great season at the club this year and I would like to thank everyone for their support. I think everyone will be hungry for more in the 2017/18 season where we will be looking for promotion both in the indoor and outdoor competitions.”