Ladies laugh all the way to Premier Division

A convincing 7-2 win over mid-table University of Nottingham 3rds secured Newark Ladies’ 2nds promotion to the East Midlands Premier Division in style.

Donning pig tails and painted-on moustaches for Comic Relief, the home side dominated the match, with captain Shanade Orsmond grabbing a hat-trick on a day of celebration.

Orsmond opened the scoring early when she was found free in the D after a strong run from Amy Baugh.

Newark’s keeper Molly Usborne pulled off an excellent save to deny the University before the visitors drew level after a player was allowed unchallenged into the penalty area.

Newark hit back and retook the lead when Ann Crockett-McLean evaded several tackles before beating the keeper with a crisp finish from an acute angle.

A short corner taken by Orsmond found her sister, Sasha, who extended the lead.

Jacky Nullis picked out Terri McLeod with a precision pass, and she found Crockett-McLean who set up Orsmond for her second.

Susan Tate and Sarah Cubitt combined nicely to feed Crockett-McLean, who notched her second assist after her ball to Orsmond was dispatched into the goal just before half-time.

The influential captain completed her hat-trick before Crockett-McLean struck Newark’s seventh after University had scored a consolation strike.

The win was Newark’s 14th of the 18-game season, and they will join North Notts Ladies 2nds in the Premier Division next season after finishing second in the table.

Danny Hendrie scored the only goal for Newark Men's 1sts as they lost 3-1 to the champions.

It concluded a disappointing season for Newark, who narrowly missed out on promotion back to East Midlands 1.

Both teams were evenly matched with the home side having more chances but, as has been the case for most of the season, Newark couldn’t convert them.

Two Megan Beard goals helped Newark Ladies 1sts to a 3-1 win over Edgbaston, which propelled them to a seventh-place finish.

Goal-machine Beard opened the scoring on 13 minutes with a terrific penalty corner strike, but Edgbaston drew level when a mis-hit shot wrong-footed keeper Sarah Gray and trickled into the net.

Newark retook the lead 17 minutes into the second-half when captain Sarah Pask picked the ball up on the wing and drove diagonally into the circle before unleashing a shot into the left corner.

Becky Warner was outstanding for Newark, who ended the season on a high when Gray’s heroic save sparked a counter-attack that was well finished by Beard.

Coach Paul Halfpenny said he was delighted with the team’s achievement of staying up, following their promotion last season.

He said: “It has been a difficult season, with us having to virtually form a new team, but we set out to consolidate at this level and that is what we achieved.”