WORCESTER Norton ladies aim to bounce back following their shock defeat last week in order not to be playing catch-up in the Midland Premier League title race.

Saturday's opponents at Nunnery Wood (3pm) are Nottingham Highfields who Worcester beat 3-1 in the corresponding fixture last season.

Kate Fletcher returns to the squad after being unavailable last week but Lucy Huddlestone's foot injury is unlikely to have healed.

Squad: Fiona Nash, Hannah Bourne, Becky Handy, Sadie Lapper, Sophie Wood, Amanda Smith, Kate Fletcher, Tina Evans, Elaine Shepperd, Charlene Mason, Jo Walker, Kate Draper, Becky Adams.

Worcester seconds began their quest for the Worcestershire Division One title with a comfortable win over their colleagues in the third team. They will be hoping for an equally confident win on their visit to Bromsgrove.

The third team will probably find the going no easier this week when they entertain last year's league champions, Kings Heath, at Nunnery Wood (12 noon). A notable landmark in the history of Norton's women's section will occur at 4.30pm at Nunnery Wood when the newly formed fourth team will play their first ever league fixture in Worcestershire Division 3 when the visitors will be Kidderminster.

BELPER 2 WORCESTER 1

Worcester slipped to a surprise defeat in their opening match in the Midland Premier League to newly promoted Belper. Although they had the greater share of possession and created more scoring chances it was two moments of irresponsible defending that allowed Belper to score from set pieces.

In the first ten minutes Worcester managed to construct three excellent chances but Kate Draper, Jo Walker and Becky Adams all missed the target. At Belper's first penalty corner the defence failed to cover the ball back to the injector and suffered the consequences. By half time Worcester could have scored at least three further times but again Walker, Draper and Charlene Mason all put the ball wide.

Just after the break a diagonal pass from Adams split the Belper defence and Mason made no mistake from the top of the circle to equalise. Worcester then started to put consistent pressure on their opponents and forced a series of five unsuccessful penalty corners but an unnecessary stick tackle in the defending circle resulted in a penalty stroke for Belper, which they confidently converted.