The ladies 2s travelled to 3rd place Sevenoaks with a streamlined squad and a determination to cause an upset. While Sevenoaks started the game strongly, playing their usual structured style of hockey the centre back pairing of Katy Benson & Laurel Fry were on hand to break down every attack and relieve pressure through wide defenders Hannah Carrington and Erin Fuller. One of these wide plays set Folkestone on the attack with Carrington releasing Demi Broome who’s speed took her past the Oaks defence to cross to Alle-gra Hopkinson who delicately reverse bunted the ball through the oncoming keepers legs for Ops to take the lead. Ops knew what they were doing was working so continued to work tirelessly in defence while feeding the wide channels to attack. The tactic bore fruit once again, this time with midfield pair Adrienne Rowe & Emma Coley doubling up on an Oaks attacker to steal the ball and work their way through the Oaks midfield up the pitch. Rowe then fed Emily Hamlyn who’s deft touch took her past the Oaks defence and slot past the keeper. Oaks were shocked, Ops were jubilant.
Ops knew that Oaks would come out pressing in the second half but knew that they didn’t need to change anything, just keep working hard and more opportunities would come. Hamlyn and Rowe once again com-bined midway through the second half to win a short corner. Ops probed and found space for Broome to shoot with the ball deflecting off an Oaks defender straight to Isla Gallagher who made no mistake at the back post to put Ops 3 up. Ops kept their structure to frustrate Oaks and although a momentary lapse did allow Oaks to pull back a consolation goal in the last couple of minutes it was too little too late. A huge re-sult for the 2s which could define their season.