ALTON 2, WINCHESTER 1

HAVING already beaten Winchester 3-0 earlier in the season, Alton Ladies completed the double over the city side to move further away from the relegation zone in Hampshire Division One.

Winchester, second in the table, began strongly with several penetrating attacks. But Alton quickly realised they could intercept the visitors’ long hits and themselves made inroads into the opposing D.

However, Winchester had left a player high up the pitch and her speed won a short corner which resulted in the first goal.

Alton’s response was to push forward even harder and a cross into the D picked out Kat Gilbert whose pass found Gayle Moir waiting at the far post to slot home the equaliser.

The second half continued at the same intensity and the game could have gone either way, with two evenly-matched teams both winning several short corners.

Alton defended five in a row as Winchester struggled to get through a solid defence.

Alton were perhaps the more determined side and finally managed to secure the win from an improvised short corner. The ball came to Gilbert at the top of the D and was then slipped left by Jenny Rust to an eager Steph Millington whose shot looped into the air off a defender’s stick and dropped over a helpless keeper into the goal.

Winchester threw players forward in the last ten minutes, but to no avail as Alton dug deep to secure three vital points.