AMBLESIDE Women earned a notable England Hockey National Vase win, beating City of Manchester Women 2-1 at Salford on Sunday.

The visitors took a 12th-minute lead in the second-round tie when Amanda Faulkner found Chelsea Daley in space and she coolly slotted the ball between the keeper's legs.

Manchester came back with continual pressure to half time and forced a series of number of penalty corners, but excellent running and blocking from Sheelagh Newell denied them.

Telling tackles and clearances also came from Sarah Martindale, Janet Faulkner, Val Nicholls and Bryony Halcrow.

Manchester struck early after the restart with a cleverly worked move, but Ambleside produced a winning second goal in the 58th minute when Daley's ball across the face of goal was deflected to Clare Matheson to deftly place in the net.

Ambleside worked hard despite captain Marge Munday being sidelined with a nasty ankle injury, and the reward for their victory is a home tie against Loughborough Town in the third round.

Captain Marge Munday hit a hat-trick in Ambleside's 6-0 Cumbria League victory at Dalston.

Munday linked up with Daley twice in the first half to net from close range and a Daley penalty corner set up Sarah Thornman to score on her first-team debut for a 3-0 interval lead.

Another well-worked penalty corner gave Munday her third goal and Lucy Mackereth took a precise pass from Sarah Martindale to turn and sweep in the fifth. Finally, Daley denied Dalston's attempts to shackle her when beat a number of defenders to fire a wide-angled shot past the outstretched keeper.

Blackpool 3rd 0, Windermere 1st 1.

WINDERMERE continued their winning streak on Saturday by beating a very difficult Blackpool side 1-0 in the Lancashire Central Women's Hockey League Division Three.

Having previously beaten Garstang 3rds and Southport 3rds, Windermere had to work very hard to produce this result.

Linking well on the left newcomer Ruth Talbot and Helen Telford initiated most of the attacking play and despite incisive runs from Fiona Inglis and Jess McAvoy, Windermere failed to find the back of the net. Blackpool were surprisingly strong on the ball and often beat Windermere to it, resulting in fast breaks by the home side.

However, their attacking play was neatly broken down by well-timed tackles from Windermere's Shona Taylor, Kate Bridgewater and Margaret Belk in defence, which kept the half-time score to 0-0.

Windermere continued to work hard into the second half but Blackpool were proving very difficult to break down. The only goal came towards the end of the match when Windermere's Phillipa Jones calmly controlled a well-struck ball from Helen Telford and played it across the D for Fiona Inglis to slot it in the back of the net.

It was a well-matched contest and Windermere were delighted with their victory, with Phillipa Jones their player of the match.

Kirkby Stephen 1st 2, Longridge 1st 2.

KIRKBY Stephen First XI were at home to Longridge in the North Women's West 2 on Saturday.

Once again weather conditions were far from good, but both teams came out strongly. The opening ten minutes saw some great end-to-end hockey, but the home side started to gain control. A goalmouth melee involving Rachel Faustino and the visiting keeper saw a determined Faustino come out on top, releasing the ball for Andrea Dixon to secure a goal.

Kirkby continued to a press deep in the Longridge half but failed to capitalise. As the weather worsened, both teams were forced to battle harder and the next goal was vitally important.

Kirkby dominated but it was the visitors who got an equaliser to put them right back in the game.

Growing in confidence, Longridge pressed hard and were rewarded with a second goal for a 2-1 lead. Late in the game, Ruth Lawler and Andrea Dixon linked well from a corner, Dixon delivered the cross to Lilly Prime, who stunned the keeper with an astonishing finish, levelling the scores.Both teams then battled it out for a winning goal, but neither could find the net.

* In-form Kendal stayed top of the table with a two-point lead over University of Manchester after brushing aside bottom club Wigan in a 7-1 win.