HARWICH and Dovercourt Hockey Club moved to within touching distance of the Suffolk Ladies’ League premier division title after a comprehensive 5-0 victory at Ipswich and East Suffolk.

They need just one point from their last five games to clinch top spot.

They welcomed back Chelsea Dingwell and replaced unwell midfielder Fi Wynne with Gabrielle Williams.

Ipswich started at a good pace, pushing back their visitors for long periods.

However, Donna Garland, Tracey Eagle and Dingwell kept them at bay, with keeper Miah Reynolds not really troubled.

Harwich started to find their feet but found the home keeper, who normally plays for the first team, in fine form.

After several fine saves, she was beaten by a Rachel Griffin shot but it found a defender’s foot on the line.

Griffin herself stepped up and scored from the resultant penalty flick, low to the keeper’s right.

Towards half-time, Harwich’s midfield started to get a grip on the game and create chances.

The second half saw Sophie Berryman, Emma Joslin, Nikki Kudela, Caz Greenall and Williams take control and have more of the ball.

This led to Kudela again slamming home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the circle.

Heavy Harwich pressure gave Griffin the opportunity to grab her second, which she did with class.

This was followed by the goal of the season from Sophie Southgate.

With possession on the edge of the circle and her back to goal, she reverse scooped the ball over the home defence and keeper and saw it fly into the top corner.

Finally, Kudela got her second to make it five with a shot into the roof of the net.

Berryman went so close on a number of occasions and really deserved to get on the scoresheet.

Ipswich had 15 players in their squad were able to refresh their team, rolling on and off.

However, the Harwich 11 kept pace with them and finished with a comfortable win.

They never really gave their hosts a clear shot on goal during the whole game and did not concede one penalty corner.

Harwich travel to play Ipswich thirds on Saturday.