RUTHIN Ladies gained a top-three finish in the North Wales U-18s’ hockey tournament.
In their first game, Ruthin took on Wrexham.
It was a shaky start for the very young squad, facing an experienced Wrexham outfit who went 2-0 up early in the game.
Ruthin started to settle and gain confidence by keeping their shape better, which resulted in Nan Jones converting to put the Vale youngsters back in the game.
They continued to apply pressure and were awarded a penalty corner to try and level the scoreline, however Wrexham gained possession and were clinical in the counter attack and they furthered their lead to leave the final score at 3-1.
Ruthin’s next opponents Pwllheli were crowned U-18 champions.
Inspirational captain Eleri Jones was in fine form from the off and Ruthin continued to build on their previous performance.
Despite being competitive and applying pressure on the champions, Ruthin failed to capitalise on their numerous chances.
This was the difference between the teams, with the Gwynedd side converting to win 1-0 in what was a closely fought contest. It was the same story again against Caernarfon in the next match with Ruthin not capitalising on their chances, even though they were the strongest team and dominated play.
Nan Jones and Lucy Williams worked extremely hard up front and there were very promising performances by Anna Drake - who had great awareness - and Magi Williams, who was solid in defence despite playing out of position, tackling strongly and gaining possession to counterattack.
The final score was 0-0.
Ruthin would like to thank Claerwen Render for umpiring and coaching along with Sian Edwards, Eluned Roberts and Linda Harrison.
Ruthin: Eleri Jones, Lucy Williams, Nan Jones, Magi Williams, Anna Drake, Elinor Isaac, Gwenllian Boyns, Heledd Parry, Roshan Donnelly, Catrin R, Fran Bradley, Hannah Kofler