City of York Hockey Club U14 girls maintained their position at the top of the Yorkshire Youth League with two wins.

Retaining their 100 per cent defensive record was not without difficulty though as York found mastering the frozen pitch conditions a hard task.

In their first match against Hull the opposition had much of the early

part of the game as their long ball tactics broke through on the uneven pitch surface.

Solid defending from Kate Bugg and Amy Bowler kept attacks on the goal to a minimum with Emma Rowley having to make only two saves in the match.

York finally broke down Hull's resistance after 20 minutes from a short corner. After the initial shot was saved, Becky Raper found the target in the ensuing goal mouth scramble.

Raper scored again moments later, a Rosie Evans' free hit found her stick with pinpoint accuracy allowing her to slip the ball behind the Hull net-minder from a tight angle to wrap up a 2-0 triumph.

In York's second match the opposition, Harrogate, also proved tough to break down with their attackers staying deep in the York half.

Hannah Longster cut out the threat of the Harrogate centre forward and thereafter most of the play moved up into the Harrogate half.

York broke the deadlock after a right-wing move from Laura Ramli teed up Amelia Smalley.

She breached the Harrogate defence and eventually found Heather Stafford on the far post, who gave York the lead.

The best move of the game came from Alison Stafford who provided a killer pass to her sister Heather who then swept the ball first time into the goal.

At 2-0 down Harrogate admitted defeat as they allowed Smalley to take on their defence single-handedly and add a further two goals more to seal a 4-0 deserved conquest.

Updated: 12:39 Tuesday, January 14, 2003