Pippa Middlemas shines despite loss to table-toppers Norton

With Norton being a well-organised and fast team Danby went into the fixture knowing that they’d have to work the ball well to get round them.

With Danby taking the first pushback Katie Hodgson and Chloe Orrel linked up well to attack the Norton players.

However, with a quick break from Norton and an impressive strike, it wasn’t long before the league table-toppers took the lead.

With Danby realising the tempo of the game they knew they’d need to work well together to intercept and block the Norton passes.

With some exceptional defending from Danby’s back three of Emma Hare, Christine Tarrant and Pippa Middlemas, the home side were clearing the threats wide of the Danby goal.

The first half was high-paced and Danby battled hard to keep the Norton strikers out, however in the last few minutes before the interval a strike took a deflection giving Norton their second of the game.

The second half started and Danby came back fighting with Nikki Graham driving down the centre to build momentum and put the pressure on the Norton players Danby were linking well and started to create chances.

Danby’s goalkeeper Catherine Adamson made some great saves to stop Norton increasing their lead and with Kate Charters and Ellis Price working hard to help clear the ball but also help attack the home team managed to keep Norton from scoring another.

Unfortunately Danby didn’t manage to find the back of the net and the final score was 2-0 to the visiting team.

The Danby Player of the Match was awarded to Pippa Middlemas.

This weekend Danby face a trip north to tackle Hartlepool away.

Send all your match reports, sports stories and any team or action photographs to the Whitby Gazette’s sports desk on andy.bloomfield@nationalworld.com