The Marches 2

Wotton 5th XI 2 Ross-on-Wye 2nd XI 4

WOTTON took the battle to Ross and emerged with pride.

Wotton started this fixture on the back of a tough away defeat to Winchcombe, but also with the effects of a focused and simple mid-week training session still ringing in their ears.

Early exchanges between the two sides were very much to the benefit of Ross, with their penchant for big swinging hits up to their attacking line, and hard tackling on the ball to dispossess where possible.

Ross, after much pressure, took an early lead, and looked like a side intent on developing the play even more. That is when Wotton took control of the game. Lead by a strong and decisive performance from the centre back combination of Brian Patterson and Steve Marfleet, and aided by the balletic performance of centre half Steve Dexter, Wotton started to build wave after wave of attacks, taking the ball out to the sides, and looking for a series of sharp short passes to move the ball up the pitch and deep into the heart of the Ross defence.

With the early loss of their right back, Hal Smillie, who had impressively committed to a strong tackle to prevent an early Ross goal and taken a knock for his trouble, Wotton turned to one of their newest club players, Mark Porter, to make up the space, and shake up the attack.

Porter made a real difference, with some neat ball retention and very well-timed passes and strong hits into the edges of the Ross circle. Guy Lendon, who had worked at real pace up front for the first part of the match, then dropped back to provide strength in defence, and the team reset around their revised line-up.

Initially, Ross looked comfortable rebuffing these forays, but as Wotton further refined their attack, and started to mix incisive passing with darting runs into space, the visitors looked increasingly nervous and fragmented, and even began to berate their own backline for their understandable mistakes.

Although not inevitable, Wotton converted that pressure into a neatly taken goal, with James Cox nabbing his first for the team with a commanding run in and across, taking a confused defensive line out of the line of fire, and finishing in the base of the backboard.

With Ross galvanised by that recovery, and realising that they were actually in a hockey match, the sides battled hard for a further 10 minutes, before a breakaway Ross pass found a lone attacker with enough space to swing well, fire the ball past the Wotton keeper, Leo Wells.

Wells continued to work hard, driving his back line to cover a further wave of Ross attack, making strong and commanding saves around the circle, keeping the scoreline steady.

Whilst Wotton remained behind, their spirit did not flag. Inspired work-rates from the two young players in the side, Jacob Phillips and Richard Harper, meant that the left side of the park looked increasingly tempting to Wotton, and there was regular work for the home side to create neat and effective triangle passing play all the way into the opposition 23.

Unfortunately, a questionable breakaway Ross goal, despite the heroics from the back four, found Wotton trailing by two, despite having the majority of the play in the third quarter.

Unruffled, the Wotton halves redoubled their efforts to bring the ball up the pitch, with Steve Hunter and Stephen Hardman joining the young Phillips in working the left and right sides to start the ball switching across, and Dexter masterminding effective and well-timed attacks from the base of the attacking midfield diamond.

Up front, the activity was all about ball delivery to the attacking maestro, James Cox, who was continuing to turn the Ross defence inside out with his off-ball movement and sniping runs into the Ross circle.

Ross held its passion and drive at bay for a while, but were overcome by the continued attacks, and they conceded another goal from open play as Wotton ramped up the pressure. With enough minutes on the clock, Wotton redoubled their efforts, and looked for more openings.

Whenever Ross had the ball, there was sustained pressure to reclaim it, and a rattled Ross, began to turn in and berate themselves again, frustrated by the competence of Wotton’s whole-team defence, and the reduction in their ability to continue an open swinging style of play.

Unfortunately, in the dying minutes of the game, a break from Ross down the left side found a 3 on 2, with the Wotton defence working hard but unable to cover all the ground required, and a final goal saw the visitors with a 4-2 win, but a win that was far harder to achieve than they had expected.

Wotton 5th XI will take much strength from this performance, as it combined simple passing hockey, great support play, and a tough and resilient approach to the game as it developed. They remained committed and skilful, and worked hard for each other.

Whilst further challenges lurk in the next few weeks, Wotton have already proved that they are a tough proposition for any of the teams in the league, and that results in the coming months will reward their efforts in training.