Aldershot & Farnham (A&F) Hockey Club’s Ladies fell to a 3-1 defeat at Epsom Ladies in the South East Women’s Premier Division on Saturday.

A&F connected well from the start, with Fiona Stewart, Hannah Wrench and Emily Desmond squeezing Epsom players in the middle and putting transfers under pressure. Phoebe Bryant calmly cleared an Epsom crash ball into the Shots D, but Epsom took the lead shortly afterwards with a well-worked goal after some quick bounce passes.

The Shots came back strongly, with Sophie Edwards and Charlotte Clive linking up to break into the Epsom 25.

Epsom came straight back, forcing a clearance out of the A&F D by Tasmin Urquhart, who passed a superb ball to Emily Desmond on the run. Louise Laws created space in the middle and broke through, but Epsom came back again.

The A&F defence handled the quick breakaways well, with Grace Wilkinson making strong clearances. Urquhart played a superb ball out to Edwards, who entered the Epsom circle and took a shot. After some scrappy play a short corner was given, but the Epsom keeper made a fine save.

The game continued to be end to end. Epsom broke into the A&F D, but Lucy Cochrane made a superb stick save on the floor.

Sacha Mullins hustled to create chances for attacks down the channel. The Shots were being patient, and Bryant sent Edwards into the Epsom D to win another short corner, but the Epsom keeper made another good save.

Wrench made an interception in midfield and made ground in a solo break, but Epsom won the ball back for another quick breakaway. The attack made it to Cochrane, who made a close-range save to stop Epsom from scoring a second.

Bryant found a gap to send Sophia Fielding into the Epsom 25 down the right. Fielding ran along the baseline but her cross was cleared by Epsom for another breakaway. Cochrane stepped out confidently to save a good strike by Epsom.

The Shots found some space when Stewart weaved through players in the middle. Laws and Wrench connected well, bouncing balls between each other to get another circle entry. Mullins hustled to get the ball back on the right and made a superb baseline drive and nearly connected with Desmond. The first half ended 1-0 with the Shots very much in it.

A&F started brightly after the break, and Mullins made it into the D to win a short corner. Just like the first half the game was end to end. A bobble ball sent into the A&F D by Epsom found its way into the goal to put the hosts 2-0 up.

Epsom created another chance and a shot bounced around in front of Cochrane until the umpire blew for a short corner. The short corner was dealt with by Laws, and the ball was cleared out wide for the Shots to reset.

The Shots continued to find space through Stewart, who carved her way through Epsom players, but Epsom had the A&F forwards covered and connections were hard to find. Fielding intercepted the ball and made good ground, but the Epsom defence won the ball back. Epsom scored their third goal with a calm reverse lifted over Laws and Cochrane.

The scoreline wasn't a fair reflection of the game and the Shots were hungry for a goal.

Wilkinson fed a brilliant ball through to Edwards for a baseline drive. The ball deflected off the Epsom defence and into the path of Stewart, who won the Shots a short corner. Bryant cleanly struck from the top, connecting perfectly with Fielding for a deflection into the top of the net to make it 3-1.

The battle in the midfield continued, with Fielding retrieving the ball back for the Shots and making another solo breakaway. Edwards found space on the left-hand side and took players on, but became isolated with team legs tiring.

The Shots pushed hard but Epsom continued to find a way out. Fielding made ground into the Epsom D and the ball took a deflection and landed with Stewart, who hit a reverse shot which narrowly went wide of the far post and was close to being tapped in by Edwards.