Oaks continued their steady progression with a season’s best performance against high- flying Burnt Ash L1s in a pulsating encounter at HBL. The home side made a good start to the match, playing a high tempo passing game that created a number of good openings, but were denied by a combination of wayward finishing and a BA keeper in excellent form. The home side were to rue those missed opportunities when Burnt Ash were clinical in front of goal in their first foray into the Sevenoaks D. Undeterred the L3s continued to press and move the ball with confidence, and their endeavour was rewarded when a crisp ball across goal from Katie Clyne was neatly deflected in by Alana Giles to level the scores. Dominating play now, Oaks went in search of a second, which duly arrived when left back Phoebe White set off on a mazy run that eliminated Burnt Ash’s defenders before slipping the ball to Pilar Benavides for an easy finish. The home side weren’t finished there as the team’s control of the game yielded another opportunity that fell to captain Anna Healey to apply a deft finishing touch. But it was game on again just before half time as Burnt Ash converted from a well-drilled penalty corner. The visitors piled on the pressure early in the second half and another well-worked PC levelled the scores. From there both sides pushed hard for the decisive breakthrough and Oaks perhaps had the better of the chances to put the game to bed, but were again denied by the excellence of the opposition’s keeper. The draw was a fair result but in a measure of the progress the L3s have made in recent weeks, the players were disappointed not to have taken all three points from a team well placed for promotion.

The team: Karen Chapman, Emma Patel, Amanda Bishop, Katie Clyne, Phoebe White, Angers Salmon, Georgi Samuel, Kelsey McKenna, Tegan Peterson, Anna Healey, Alex Sewell, Pilar Benavides, Alana Giles, Amber Buggins