Chelmsford Highway booked their place in the semi-final of this new competition with a deserved victory in Kent on Saturday.

Despite being put under intense pressure in the opening moments of the game, Chelmsford rocked their opponents with a goal after only three minutes.

It was a classic counter attack which was swift and decisive. Tracy Wilmore pinched the ball from a Canterbury defender on the halfway line.

Her run took her from left to right and by the time she crossed the 25 yard line she had plenty of players up in support.

Becky Alltree dummied Wilmore's cross allowing the ball to run through to Lynn Bollington at the top of the circle and her first time shot flew into the far corner of the goal.

The first half then settled into a pattern very much set out in these opening minutes.

The home side enjoyed more of the possession but Chelmsford continued to look threatening every time they broke on the counter attack.

Despite all their possession Canterbury only forced one save out of Katie Roberts in the Chelmsford goal.

It was an excellent reaction save from a first time shot from the ever probing Anna Bennett.

Chelmsford on the other hand created several good chances from lightening fast breaks.

Sue Smith in the Canterbury goal made a fine double save, firstly from Alltree's shot and then from the rebound from Tammy Nancoo.

The pattern of the game changed in the second half, as Canterbury struggled to keep up the work rate of the first half and the visitors began to enjoy more time and space and along with that, more possession.

Chelmsford controlled the game far more in the second half and again created the greater number of clear cut chances.

Bollington got on the end of a Marie Arber cross but saw her shot saved, and the majority of the chances fell to Nancoo. The Trinidad and Tobago international took the first of these from close range.

Wilmore's shot was saved but Nancoo was on hand to reverse stick the ball through the goalkeeper's legs.

After this she had opportunities to have completed a hat-trick but her efforts were either saved or went just wide of a post.

Ironically, despite not playing so well in the second half, Canterbury created more chances than they did in the first.

Roberts was called into significant action three times and on each occasion was equal to the task.

On the whole however, the Essex side defended well with Julie Parrott in particularly outstanding form at the heart of their back line.

Once the second goal had gone in however the result was never really in doubt. It was an entertaining and incident packed game played in a good spirit by both sets of players.

Chelmsford were delighted to extend their run of good form, and this result means that they have only lost one of their last nine games since Christmas.

They will be hoping to take this good form with them into the semi-final at Cannock on Sunday. If they win, the Final is later the same day.

Coach Pete Fordham is looking forward to the challenge, saying: "It would be nice to win another trophy, but it's also important to keep a winning run going so that confidence can remain high for the semi-final of the Hockey Association Cup in a few weeks time."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.