This week, the ladies 4s travelled to Beckenham to play mid-table New Beccehamian 3s. Maidstone had clearly shrugged off last week’s large defeat and played end-to-end positive hockey from the start. The return of Tracy Murphy-Bellchambers provided a boost to the forward line and she was quickly causing the opposition problems after picking up a quality ball from Claudia Allsworth-Clarke to slip it past the New Beccs keeper. New Beccs retaliated on a break and managed to equalise but Maidstone’s determination did not falter. A powerful short corner strike deflected kindly straight to Player of the Match Louisa Coffey on the post, and she was not going to miss. Maidstone found themselves in the unusual position of being ahead at half time. 

Despite more end-to-end hockey it was New Beccs who broke through first in the second half and scored the equaliser. Mary Seabourne calmly earnt Maidstone a penalty corner in response, but despite Nicky Bourne blasting the ball into the back board the umpire disallowed the goal, deeming the shot too high. Maidstone let their frustration show and whilst trying to re-position players, New Beccs snuck in another goal to go 3-2 up. In the dying minutes, Maidstone having reformed their shape, played in Murphy-Bellchambers who drove into the D and scored the equaliser. Whilst delighted not to lose, Maidstone couldn’t help but be disappointed that the disallowed goal stopped them gaining a much-needed win. Newcomers Lucy Seabourne and Rebekah Maynard both put in commendable performances in their first ever ladies matches.