The Starlings sit top of the Under-16 Sussex Girls Development League having made it to the midway point in the season unbeaten, with 11 wins out of 11, 63 goals scored and just five conceded, and only BHHC Gulls within sight in second place, a delighted and proud Clare Cook reports.

"On Saturday against South Downs Skylarks, a once again rotated squad saw Under-12s Elodie and Isobelle F make only their second Starlings start and young Under-12 GK Alice make her debut.

"The Starlings took control of the game early, despite the Skylarks having a visible age and height advantage. Alice kept a clean sheet, making a handful of excellent saves and clearing the ball out wide on the few occasions she was called upon.

"With few defenders available, forward Emily stepped in as sweeper and cleared up nicely with GK Alice on the few occasions we were troubled in the first half. In midfield and attack we strung together some excellent passes and created a number of opportunities, but we struggled to convert and the opposition's GK made some great saves. We persevered and midway through the first half Amelia calmly slotted away with a hard, flat slap at the end of a lovely move down the right.

"11-year-old Dina had another excellent game, with great running off the ball, excellent skills and strength, calmness and great decision making, through which she set up a number of chances for others. She got her reward when the ball fell to her in space on the top left of the D and she took an excellent strike to make it 2-0 at the break.

"In the second half, Maelona took over as sweeper and she, GK Alice and all the defenders kept out the Skylarks when they broke, which they occasionally did at speed. We improved our game as time went on, with some excellent link up play from defence, into midfield and then into attack. Evie in particular had a fantastic game, showing great strength, vision and decision making. Her ingenuity and link-up play helped set Amelia up for her second to make it 3-0.

"10-year-old Isolda unexpectedly came on after we were left with 10 players and as always she played with bounds of energy and her off-the-ball running was excellent. Young Elodie had a fine game, showing much potential and fabulous strength for someone so small.

"In the last quarter of the match, we really upped our game, showing the supporters and umpires what a great little team we have. Our movement off the ball was fantastic, passes were accurate and decisions were clever. Emily, having now pushed up as a forward, and Amelia, taking her turn as sweeper, had a number of chances she was unable to convert before tucking one away to make the final score 4-0.

"Jessica and Daisy in defence both had another excellent game. As did Olivia in midefeld and then defence and Isobelle F had a great game with involvement in a lot of the excellent play down the left both from defence and then midfield.

Amy Mac and Clare Cook are immensely proud of how the Starlings have done so far this season and the positive attitudes the girls bring. Well done all!

After losing so narrowly to their club colleagues the previous week, the Gulls returned to winning ways with an emphatic 6-0 win at Crowborough Blackbirds.

"The hideous weather, torrential rain and strong winds throughout this match didn’t deter the Gulls spirits and after a slightly shaky start we settled into our rhythm," reports Sue Everton.

"On paper, we looked in danger of overwhelming Crowborough, so the team from the outset had been adjusted accordingly, with regular keeper Emily B playing outfield and Rosa M (left back) having a spell on the right wing. Her debut in this position resulted in a hat trick and no-one looked more surprised and jubilant than Rosa herself!

"Our special thanks to Jess N who played in goal for us for the first time. We hope she will join us again in the New Year. The match ended 6-0 but I am sure we would have scored many more had we had fielded our regular line up. Crowborough appreciated the girls’ sporting attitude.

The Gulls look forward to the second half of the season, which for some of them will signal the end of their Junior hockey days. In the meantime they are so enjoying their hockey (training and matches) and improving every week. Despite the weather they were a joy to watch."