Leigh Maasdorp’s side came into Saturday’s contest having conceded just one goal across their opening three fixtures.

A largely unchanged squad for the home side welcomed in debutant Pippa Lewis to the bench as they looked to build on their unbeaten start to the Premier League campaign.

Their northern opponents had enjoyed a mixed start to the season but made the journey south in desperate search of a valuable three points after falling to East Grinstead the previous weekend.

In an assertive opening phase, Bowdon dominated proceedings, winning a penalty corner inside the opening minute and unsettling their hosts.

Some unassured ball movement cost Holcombe the chance to go forward with purpose and the visitors capitalised on this throughout the opening exchanges but were unable to convert any of their pressure into clear goal-scoring opportunities.

Settling into the contest, Holcombe were rewarded with the breakthrough after just 19 minutes. A powerful long ball from Emma Trunks was deflected on by debutant Pippa Lewis. After Emily Beeney did well to control the original ball and play her through, Dirkie Chamberlain managed to scramble the ball home at the second time of asking after Kirsty Mackay made the original save.

With minimal clear opportunities at either end, the rest of the half was played predominantly across midfield as neither side were able to put together the quality passages of play that had been evident in their seasons’ thus far.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with further goals being threatened by sheer persistence rather than an abundance of quality. Some scrambling defence from Holcombe preserved their slender advantage and some penalty corners of their own provided opportunities to extend the lead.

A well-worked penalty corner saw Sarah Jones’ close range effort saved by a scrambling Kirsty Mackay, only for her counterpart in the Holcombe goal to repeat the feat as Rose Thomas dove across the face of goal to earn yet another clean sheet in her impressive start in a Holcombe shirt.

In a repeat of last years’ Championship Final, Holcombe, now second in the Premier League, welcome Surbiton to Holcombe Park on Saturday for a 4pm game to start.

Pictures supplied by Grout Photography.