BROMSGROVE Ladies firsts started the season in Worcestershire League Division One by seeing off their second team 2-0 on Saturday.

With the promotion of second team's promotion to the same league as their firsts, this opening the league fixture of the new season was always going to be a difficult one for both teams.

The firsts started strongly but lost defender Kirsty Gormley from the game to injury after two minutes.

This upset their balance, with debutant Lisi Cottam forced into the game earlier than was anticipated.

The seconds gave as good as they got in the first half with Lisa Smiley and Erica Reeves creating lots of problems on the right hand side.

Both sides had chances but the first half ended goalless. A change of formation helped the first team to apply pressure throughout the second half, but they were repelled by Ange Gibson.

After an hour the firsts finally broke the seconds' resilience when Lily Alsop turned the ball home from close range. They increased their lead when new captain Heather Nunnerley buried d home a penalty corner.

Alan Gormley, who coaches both sides, said: “This was never going to be a display of open free flowing hockey. It was a frantic, feisty, intense and passionate game. Both sides know each other so well there really wasn’t much to choose between them.”