TOP of the table Clifton, a side who play with great confidence and teamwork, ensured they stayed on top of English Hockey League's Premier Division with a convincing win over Ipswich.

By Martin White

TOP of the table Clifton, a side who play with great confidence and teamwork, ensured they stayed on top of English Hockey League's Premier Division with a convincing win over Ipswich.

The Tuddenham Road side started slowly and found it difficult to get into their stride, while Clifton opened the scoring after four minutes through Lisa Hunter when a defensive error led to a penalty which keeper Hannah Robinson was unfortunate not to save.

This seemed to kick-start the Ipswich team who began to take greater control and demonstrated to the Bristol side how to play a quick passing style of hockey.

Despite the tremendous amount of pressure on the Clifton defence, Ipswich were unable to secure a goal and at half-time, coach Sandie Lister made some alterations to the formation which resulted in Ipswich making the Clifton keeper work very hard.

Lizzie Aldous and Sarah Bamfield both had shots on target, but it was the Clifton forward Imogen Robertson who turned the game. Having scored two hat-tricks in her last two games Ipswich knew she was a potential danger and she did not disappoint her home supporters and with two penalty corner strikes and one open play move she maintained her hat-trick reputation.

With nothing to lose Ipswich continued to push forward. Leisa King worked tirelessly in the middle and Vicki Sandall made darting runs into the Clifton area.

However, the visitors still were unable to get past the Clifton defence and were then caught on the break as the home side rounded off the scoring through Hunter.