Despite not playing as a team for six months, the squad quickly gelled and produced some fine attacking hockey.

The first goal came from a well worked short corner in the fourth minute, with Ann Marie Davenport calmly slotting the ball past the goalkeeper. This settled the side and St Albans went further ahead on 18 minutes with a free-flowing field goal. Alyson Lord sent a clinical pass across to Jenny Birch to score.

Despite some quick Timperley breaks, St Albans' defence showed resilience and thwarted any chances that Timperley had. Dawn Forshaw in goal had a particularly good game.

It wasn’t until the 64th minute that the game was finally put to rest when Sarah Embrey passed across the circle to find Sian Ireland on the post.

The final takes place on Sunday 13 September at Nottingham Hockey Centre, 5.30pm start.

Photo (taken Feb 2020) courtesy of Chris Hobson photos