On Sunday May 5th Clifton Robinson’s Womens 1’s won the Investec Womens Tier 1 Cup Final, defeating Hamstead & Westminster (H&W) on penalty shuffles after the game ended 2-2 in normal time.
Claire Thomas, the leagues joint leading top scorer this season, opened the scoring for Clifton with a very well taken field goal after 21 minutes.
Aileen Davis doubled the lead on 44 minutes with a clever penalty corner executed with great precision.
H&W pulled a goal back almost immediately and equalised on 60 minutes.
The game was played throughout at a high intensity with skill levels befitting the Cup Final. Both sides continued to push for a decisive winner without success which took the game into penalty shuffles.
Clifton scored 3 of their first 4 shuffles and denied H&W 3 times in their first 4 attempts to win the Cup and return the silverware to Bristol.
Clifton Robinson’s Womens 1’s have competed in the Cup Final 5 times in the past 6 seasons, winners most recently before this season in 2016.
The winning team from L-R:
Steve Rixon (Head Coach), Zoe Leach, Sophie Trigg (GK), Aileen Davis, Holly Savage, Jenny Hughes, Natasha Marke-Jones, Kitty Chapple, Maria Jones, Claire Thomas, Nic Moss (injured during the final), Olivia Hopkisson, Victoria McCabe, Lousia Bell, Hannah Coulson (captain – holding the cup), Sarah Ellis (physio), Alex Ogilby, Steve Pritchard (assistant coach), Al Kilfoil (manager)