Cannock 0 Ben Rhydding 1

A change of formation and love for the game is working wonders for the fortunes of Ben Rhydding Ladies’ first team, so says skipper Jodie Bridger.

The team were without a victory before Christmas and staring relegation in the face, but two good wins, most recently on Saturday against Cannock, have lifted them out of the danger zone.

“We put too much pressure on ourselves before Christmas,” she said, “Since then, we’ve taken a step back, looked at taking one game at a time instead of focussing solely on the end goal, and its worked out for us so far. There’s a real buzz about the place and at training.”

A Rachelle Le Bourdon strike was enough to give Rhydding the win against bottom-placed Cannock, and Bridger was keen to heap praise on inside forwards Jess Purvis and Jen Wilson, who worked hard and produced inspired performances.

“I was proud with how professional we were after half time. We got a bit of a telling off and we tried to stir things up a bit, and we went out and played really good hockey.”

Le Bourdon’s winner came seven minutes from time. “We were defensively solid, especially for that last seven minutes, which is something I was especially pleased with. It was a really important win.”

And there is no let up of important games for Ben Rhydding. Now placed in seventh of ten, they play host to Liverpool Sefton on Saturday, who are eighth, in another relegation scrap.

“When we played them at their place we drew 0-0 and were so unlucky – it was one of those days that nothing went for us. We should get a result, it’s so important we relax and play the game and don’t focus on that end goal. We’ve got to have fun over the seventy minutes.”

“Obviously, they’re in and amongst it as well. There’s a bit of a mini-league with the four teams at the bottom and our aim is to try and win that. On form I think we could catch Wakefield, but they are probably just too far off now.”

The league structure means that the bottom side go down, with a nerve-jangling play-off for the team that finishes ninth. Bridger is desperate to see that her side has to endure either.

“We’ve given ourselves a very good chance of avoiding it all. This weekend is important, we need to make sure we end up safe and don’t take our foot off the gas.

Cannock started Saturday’s game confidently and their slick passing created gaps in the visitors defence.

Dutch keeper Jo Carpay was called into action early on when Cannock won a string of penalty corners.

Her solid goalkeeping along with composed tackling from Rebecca Fox, Le Bourdon and Helen Fisher kept the home side from going ahead.

The game ebbed and flowed and despite some gritty play from Eleanor Trafford and Jo Mason on the flanks Rhydding still struggled to maintain possession or create any meaningful attacks. By half time is was still goalless with Cannock having the upper hand.

A rousing half time talk from coach James Ross kick-started the Ilkley side into action.

Kate Hesketh went close after good work from Rebecca Dallas and Rachel Doherty.

Rhydding continued this new found urgency and Cannock struggled to keep up with the pace. Jen Wilson in midfield who linked up well with Fran Holmes-Brown.

Brimming with confidence and sensing a big turn in momentum Rhydding surged forward looking for the all important goal.

They came close to breaking the deadlock several times before Abbie Brant was fouled on the edge of the attacking D and was awarded a penalty corner.

A well-practiced routine saw the ball slipped the Le Bourdon who dispatched a low shot straight past the keeper and into the net. Then, Rhydding played out the last five minutes to preserve the win.