ELTON Vale overcame Darcy Lever in the first round of the Cleworth Cup despite fielding a severely depleted team.

They started the match with only seven players, and one more arrived after the kick-off, to leave them having to face Darcy with a team of eight – and no goalkeeper.

Despite their lack of numbers, however, they showed impressive form, taking the game to their opponents and romping to a superb 4-1 victory.

The star of the show was Karen Nicholls who scored a hat-trick.

They pressed the Darcy goal from the beginning, creating many good chances which were kept out by a combination of good defending and solid goalkeeping.

The pressure eventually told and Elton scored after 10 minutes of sustained pressure.

The Elton players worked hard and managed to close down in midfield, leaving two defenders at the back to absorb any breaks by the Darcy forwards.

Darcy countered with a number of attacks and the ball was crossed in front of the goal on a couple of occasions when their attackers failed to connect.

Darcy struggled to find their usual aggressive game and Elton managed to take advantage – despite their reduced numbers – and scored another goal in the first half.

The match continued in the same vein in the second half with Elton retaining possession and scoring two more goals before finally conceding one late on when their defence was outnumbered and unable to clear the ball which rolled into the open net.

Fog caused the match between Elton Brook and Bolton Hockey to be abandoned and last week’s six-a-side fixtures were decimated by the weather.

On Monday, Roydon beat Tornadoes 4-1, but the four games scheduled for Wednesday were cancelled because the pitch was frozen.

RESULTS Cleworth Cup first round: Westleigh 1 Elton Jags 4; Roydon B 0 Nomads 6; County Ladies 6 Eagley Tornadoes 2; Darcy Lever 1 Elton Vale 4; Elton Brook v Bolton HC not played due to fog.