Southend & Benfleet 1st XI - 5 (Nicola Bryant 1, Kirsty Edmunds 3, Sarah Conway 1)
Burnt Ash 1st XI - 6
PHOTO: Tina Meredith

It was a David and Goliath match as bottom of the table Southend & Benfleet played Burnt Ash in East Division 2SE. It was the underdogs who took the champs by surprise with a goal in the first few minutes when Nicola Bryant scored in the top of the net from a penalty corner. Skipper Kirsty Edmunds followed this up with a second goal for S&B. A clearly shaken Burnt Ash had to pull themselves together and get two goals back. It was end-to-end action with S&B in the lead with two more goals from Edmunds, each time followed by an equaliser from trailing Burnt Ash, making the half-time score 4-4. In the second half S&B again took the lead with a reverse stick flick from Sarah Conway. Burnt Ash equalised and with two minutes to go they scored from a short corner. Final score 6-5 – a thriller of a game. Joint players of the match went to Kirsty Edmunds and Chloe Harris.