Harrogate Hockey Club Ladies 1st XI avoid relegation on final day of 2023/24 season

A five-game unbeaten run during January and February seemed to have pulled the Ainsty Road outfit well clear of the drop zone, but a sequence of three consecutive losses saw them dragged back into the battle for survival.

They began the last weekend of 2023/24 in eighth position, level on points with seventh-placed Bowden, but just three point ahead of Timperley, who occupied the second relegation spot.

Thus, Harrogate knew that they only had to avoid defeat to ensure that they would be safe, but the fact that their goal-difference was significantly worse than Timperley’s meant that if they lost and the Cheshire outfit overcame Durham University then it would be them who would drop out of the division.

In addition, ‘Gate went into the game missing a quartet of their most experienced players, including captain Helen Goacher and influential forward Holly Oldham.

So, forced to field probably the youngest-ever 1st XI in Harrogate’s history, head coach Justin Metcalfe opted to set his side up in a more defensive 4-3-3 formation, operating with a deeper-lying press than normal.

What ensued was a fairly cagey affair that was played between the 22s, with clear-cut chances few and far between as both teams betrayed their nerves.

It was Bowden who took the lead on 31 minutes with one of the few quality moves of the first half.

As news filtered through that Timperley were 2 –0 down, inspirational stand-in skipper Harriet Evans urged her side forward, and the equaliser arrived from the stick of Niamh Clements following a well-worked short-corner routine.

A tense last quarter followed, with player of the match Lwle Preston-Yates commanding at the back, shielded by the experienced midfield of the tough-tackling Lucy Wood and Becky Sagar.

Timperley eventually fought back to win 3-3 with a goal in the last 15 seconds of their game, however a point apiece meant that both ‘Gate and Bowden had done enough to make that result academic.

“It’s been quite an achievement staying in this competitive national division this season,” an extremely relieved Evans said at the full-time whistle.

“At the start of the year we had to integrate five new young under-18s players into a much-changed squad, and were missing the influential Lucy Wood from our midfield for most of the first half of the season.

“We also lost our coach, but Justin Metcalfe has been a breath of fresh air and the young girls have developed massively during the year. They can only get even better next season.”