Four-goal Trojans give Oxford the Blues

A fifth successive win – a 4-1 triumph at relegated Oxford Hawks – has secured a second consecutive third place finish for Trojans in England Hockey’s Women’s Western Conference.
Last season, they led the table for long periods on the springboard of eight straight wins, but tailed away during the second half of the campaign.  In almost direct contrast, there are finishing the season on a high and have matched their 2018 finish position.
Trojans were 2-0 up inside six minutes against Oxford Hawks, a neat move between Heather Batten and Amy Sheehan providing Cita Haines with a simple tap-in, and then Jill Toombs making it 2-0 from a short corner won by Martha Taylor.
Their superiority was emphasised after 21 minutes with a third penalty corner strike by Batten, but Trojans’ 3-0 interval lead was tested a little more after the break with Hawks enjoying more of the ball, but never really threatening.
Picking up on a free hit from Batten, Sheehan sped fully 35 yards with the ball before rounding the Oxford goalkeeper to make it 4-0.
Hawks did respond with an untidy short corner consolation goal by Katie Lowe five minutes from the end.