WGC celebrate scoring against Harpenden - but they weren't celebrating come the final whistle (Pictures by LOUISA EMERY)

WGC Ladies blew a 3-0 lead as they slipped to defeat against derby rivals Harpenden on Saturday.

WGC dribble the ball

Clare Lund’s outfit were hoping to continue their winning ways against top-of-the-table Harpenden, who also list the University of Herts as their home venue, and they couldn’t have wished for a better start.

A quick move from the defence to Celia Devereux led to a penalty flick awarded to Welwyn within 10 minutes, after a foul on Celia by the keeper.

Grace Mizon stepped up to take the flick, and confidently put the ball past the Harpenden custodian.

This seemed to shock the opposition; only a few minutes later, Welwyn got a short corner. The ball was passed out to the top of the D by Anna Geaves, who received the ball back at the left post and tapped it in to score Welwyn’s second.

Harpenden began to put up a fight, however strong defensive play from the back four of Charlie Honour, Jo Hunter, Lisa Sheffield and Holly Butrimas-Gair, and keeper Nat Grainger, kept the home team at bay.

Welwyn continued to play good hockey, with the ‘diamond’ formation working well in the centre for Mizon and Geaves, who were finding brilliant passes to Heather Dick, Lauren Allen and Kat Parry on the wings.

These passes paid off, when Sue Owen found Jane Kinghorn through the narrowest of margins. Holding the ball up, Jane brought the keeper out of her goalmouth, enabling her to find the perfect strike to slot the ball into the goal and give Welwyn a 3-0 lead.

At this point, Harpenden began to realise that it wasn’t going to be the easy game they originally thought it would be, and although Welwyn tried their best, Harpenden managed to pull two back before the half-time whistle went.

A rousing half-time teamtalk from the coach and injured captain Clare Lund should have seen Welwyn keep the Harpenden attack from scoring any more.

However, Harpenden came out twice as strong in the second half, and before Welwyn knew it, they were on level terms after some slick passing from the hosts’ forward line.

More heroic dives and saves from keeper Granger could not keep the ball from going into the Welwyn net, and before long, Harpenden had scored two more – the umpire appeared to be a little harsh in some decisions, with the away team getting three green cards and Geaves sent off for 10 minutes after receiving a yellow card.

However this did not contribute to the fact that a weary-looking Welwyn were unable to score any more to level with Harpenden. The game ended 5-3 to the home team.