WITNEY Ladies fell to a 2-0 defeat in their first ever game in the second tier of English hockey away to Isca & University of Exeter.

Forward Chloe Williams won two of Witney’s three penalty corners in their Vitality Women’s Hockey League Division One South debut, but they could not convert any of them against a side featuring England international Martha Taylor and England Under-21 player Ella Burnley.

The Lambs, who have won four promotions in six years and won Conference West last season, kept things tight in a goalless first half in Devon, but went down to second half goals from Lucy Day and Flora Fletcher.

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But they will be encouraged with equally strong defensive and attacking play, including winning short corners. 

Williams found a defender’s foot after receiving a free hit from Ellie Norton for the first corner and an Isca player’s body off their own stick for the second, while Lili Hargreaves forced a third after deliberately playing the ball off a defender’s foot following an aerial from Lizzie Hempstead.

Witney’s men also suffered defeat, going down 4-2 to Haslemere in the South Central Premier Division 2.