East Grinstead Ladies 1^st Team had a convincing home win on Saturday, beating Mid Sussex Ladies 13-1.

EG made their intentions clear straight from the whistle, with a well-taken goal from Emma Pearson after just 23 seconds.  With support from Caroline Judd, Pearson drove into the circle from left midfield and skilfully rounded several defenders before putting the ball past their keeper into the back of the goal.  17 year-old Pearson continued to threaten throughout the match and constantly caused problems for the Mid Sussex defence.

EG scored a further four goals in the first half, with goals for Stephanie Baggett, Vicky Griffiths and two for Caroline Judd.  Against the run of play Mid Sussex scored just before half-time from a penalty corner, with a clever deflected goal by Jenny Maynard into the roof of the EG net.

Stephanie Baggett scored her second goal just two minutes into the second half, following some excellent linking down the right between herself and JoJo Blunt.  Baggett continued to use her pace and skill to great effect in the second half, taking her goal tally to an impressive five for the match.  Caroline Judd also completed her hat-trick early in the second half, making the most of an accurate through-ball from Briony Bray.

Captain Lottie Gregory led a well-organised and solid defence for EG.  Nicky Hamstead and Francis Needle marked tightly to limit any attacking play from the Mid Sussex forwards, and Ellie Sawyer caught the opposition off-guard with some well-struck passes down the right.

Further goals in the second half from Vicky Griffiths and Katie Walters took EG’s total tally to 13 for the match and completed a convincing victory.

After eight matches this season, East Grinstead Ladies 1^st team are fourth in the Premier Division of the Ladies Sussex League, behind Brighton, Worthing and Lewes.  Mid Sussex remain at the bottom of the table, still looking for their first win of the season.  EG have a busy weekend ahead; they meet Eastbourne Ladies 2’s (away) in the league on Saturday 24 November, followed by an EH Vase match on Sunday at 11.30am against Tring Ladies 1’s.