Durham University 3 Ben Rhydding 2

Battling Ben Rhydding put up a brave show but ended up suffering a narrow Investect Women's National League Conference North defeat at Durham on Saturday.

The game started at a quick pace with both sides finding space and attacking at every opportunity.

An early scoring opportunity fell to Rebecca Dallas whose impressive reverse- stick strike went just over the bar.

Further chances were created which saw Rachel Doherty and Kate Hesketh have their shots saved.

Durham continued to move the ball quickly and scored from a penalty corner.

Great inter-play from Sarah Bell and Jen Wilson in midfield kept the Durham defence on their toes.

Durham had a couple more penalty corners before the break but good keeping from Charlotte Smith kept the deficit to one goal.

Both teams started the second half at a fast pace but it was Ben Rhydding who struck first.

Their pressure was rewarded with a penalty corner which was converted by Sarah Bell.

Despite some good defending from Rachelle Le Bourdon and Tanisha Janzen, Durham struck back to grab the lead again from a deflection at the back post.

Jodie Bridger at centre defence pushed up into Ben Rhydding’s attacking half and forced another penalty corner for the visitors. Le Bourdon’s thundering strike hit the back of the goal and levelled the score again.

Ben Rhydding continues to defend and attack in numbers. player of the match Dallas was unlucky not to add a third goal for Rhydding but the keeper manage to stretch her foot out to clear the ball wide.

Durham always looked dangerous when they were given the space to run into and with seven minutes left they capitalised on a quick break to snatch the winning goal.