Promotion secured for Shefford & Sandy Ladies IIs

The hosts began nervously with the knowledge that victory would be enough to secure runners up spot behind Blueharts IIIs with a game to plan, as a number of early passes went astray.

However, they soon settled into a rhythm, with passes flowing nicely around the pitch and were ahead.

Kath Wilson and Tina Fury combined well on the right and Wilson’s cross found Kirsten Rayner, whose deft touch beat the imposing Stortford goalie to put S&S 1-0 ahead.

The defensive duo of Gina Kelly and Kaz Hall were rarely troubled and keeper Lian Potter was a spectator for most of the half.

S&S started well in the second half and piled heaps of pressure on the young Stortford defence until it finally buckled and up stepped short corner queen Fury to convert the corner to give her side a two goal lead.

Shefford grew in confidence with Nat Nunn the pinging the ball around with ease and Sammi Saxon and Izzy Benton-Slim working tirelessly in midfield thwarting their counterparts.

Emma Wilding well known for her meandering runs found Wendy Devlin in the D, who held the ball up nicely and then calmly laid it off to Rayner as she made it 3-0.

Player of the match Hannah Bartram also went close after her fierce drive was saved on the line, before Stortford pulled one back in the last minute.

S&S held on to continue their unbeaten run since November 2015 and will be promoted as runners up in Division Two.

Shefford: Lian Potter, Kaz Hall, Gina Kelly, Tina Fury, Kath Wilson, Kirsten Rayner, Sammi Saxon, Hannah Bartram, Emma Wilding, Nat Nunn, Wendy Devlin, Izzy Benton-Slim.

It was a great day for the rest of the Ladies teams with the firsts winning 4-1 against West Herts IIIs and staying top of the Premier Division.

The IIIs defeated Hertford IVs 5-2 and are already promoted as champions of Division Four.

Meanwhile, the IVs triumphed 4-1 against Royston IVs in Division Five.