The Isle of Man women’s hockey team competed at the North Women’s County Championships at Wakefield Hockey Club at the weekend.

They were led by head coach Raj Nandha, team manager Alex Molyneux and captain Kim Carney, with assistance throughout the tournament from the vice-captains Sami Verrall, Jen Turner, Zoe Crowe, Imogen Manning and Sarah Blackman, who was also lead organiser for the trip.

The team had a tough schedule for both Saturday and Sunday, with three back-to-back games on Saturday against Cheshire, Durham and Yorkshire, plus back-to-back games on Sunday against Cumbria and Lancashire.

Yorkshire were pre-tournament favourites as the reigning champions, although Lancashire were also strong contenders.

The team got off to a shaky start against Cheshire in their opener but, given the chances and dominance in the second half, the final result of 2-2 was somewhat frustrating for the Manx side.

The women took their strong finish against Cheshire into the next match against Durham where they played some excellent hockey, terrorising the opposition defence with fast-paced attack and defending well as a unit to win the game 6-1.

The final game of the day was against the favourites Yorkshire who have been very dominant in this tournament with players representing from the National League and under-23s international squad.

In the first half the team didn’t quite get into their stride, possibly due to fatigue starting to settle in after the previous two back-to-back games, and this ultimately had an impact on the overall result as the IoM were 3-0 down at half-time.

The women composed themselves at the break and with a slight change in formation and structure, they competed well in the second half to limit the English side’s chances.

However, the quality of Yorkshire’s penalty corners, which included a drag-flick specialist, meant that in the end they doubled their lead to finish the game 6-0 winners.

A tough result to take but against a very strong team and an improvement on last year.

After an enjoyable evening at the England Hockey (EH) Awards in Leicester to support those island squad members that play for Vikings A - who were nominated for the Team of the Year Award - it was back to business on the final day with back-to-back games against Cumbria and Lancashire.

The psychological boost for the travelling squad from being at such a prestigious record-breaking event the evening before - with more than 500 attendees including some current men’s and women’s Great Britain players plus Olympic gold medalists and the most successful coach in GB hockey, Danny Kerry - clearly had a very positive impact on the Manx players on the final day.

In the first game against Cumbria they were quick out of the blocks scoring in the first couple of minutes. They then allowed Cumbria back into the game before scoring another two goals to go in at the break 3-1 up.

The Isle of Man scored a fourth goal with eight minutes to go before conceding two late penalty corner goals, but the damage inflicted in the first half ensured they won 4- 3 and cemented third place in the tournament behind Yorkshire and Lancashire with one game still to play.

A special mention goes to Kim Carney who attained her 100th senior cap for the island women’s squad against Cumbria. This is a great achievement and testament to her continued commitment on and off the field within Manx hockey.

The final game of the tournament was against second-placed Lancashire who had lost to Yorkshire the previous day, so this presented an opportunity for the IoM to try and finish one place higher.

It was a nervy start from the women as the Manx side conceded an early goal but regained their composure and worked hard as a team to frustrate Lancashire, created a number of chances.

The women put in one of their best performances of the tournament against a strong Lancashire side and narrowly missed out on a deserved point, eventually losing 3-2.

Overall this was very strong squad performance with all the players contributing in every game to help the island team finish third and improve from last year’s fourth place finish.