The Marches 2

Gloucester City C 2 Wotton-under-Edge 4ths 4

WOTTON-Under-Edge fourths faced their local rivals Gloucester City last Saturday, with the temperatures low, but with muscles and hearts on fire, and looking for a fourth straight win of 2017 to drive their league campaign to new heights.

Both teams struggled with the impact of school holiday and the related lack of player availability, although Gloucester seemed the better stocked, with a subs bench that was fairly deep with experience, all looking to avenge their defeat earlier in the season.

The game started at pace, with Gloucester keen to swing the ball wide and work it down the side and across to the top of the circle. Numerous attacks on the Wotton defensive line occurred, with wave after wave of Gloucester pressure looking for an opening.

Wotton held firm as they sorted out the defensive structure, and led by Brian Patterson and Matt Wong, started to move the ball back up the pitch, seeking passes out through a high home team press.

Richard Gunton and Martin Dove, sitting as the outer defensive shield, moved at pace to neutralise the emerging threat of the young Gloucester forwards, who were constantly pressing to find a way past the back line.

When they did, they then faced the GK man-mountain of Ben Gough, who swatted away those attacks with impunity, triggering a number of useful counter attacks in midfield for the Wotton defence to relish.

Twenty minutes in, the deadlock was broken, with an early Wong ball finding Stu Jones on the left side, transferring the ball into the centre for a James Cox drive into the opposition circle.

A goal-mouth scramble then found the ball nestled in the bottom of the backboard after being pushed neatly past the Gloucester keeper by Cox.

Rejuvenated by moving ahead, Wotton increased the attacking pace, with several attacks triggered by Gunton passes finding Rich Watts in the centre midfield, who then off-loaded to Jim Edwards for some delicate mazy runs up and across to the opposition 23 line. Attacks continued in this vein, with both sides trading midfield blows until the halftime whistle.

Captain Gideon York, encouraged by the increasing confidence of his team on the ball, and with indication of how the Gloucester attack would most likely form, focused the defence on central control, and the attack on simple fast passing, to unlock the tiring Gloucester midfield. The first five minutes proved him right, with repeated attacks up into the home side circle proving impressive, but ultimately fruitless.

From one of these attacks, Gloucester broke free on a fast counter, and swamped the away side circle with a number advantage, leaving the score with a neatly taken strike.

Wotton immediately countered, driving up the pitch to seek out a second goal. After ten minutes of sustained pressure, with attacking midfield Adam Hanney at the heart of all moves, Wotton found a decent platform inside the circle, winning a succession of short corners. With one of these converted by a well-timed Cox deflection, Wotton pushed back into the lead.

It was only for five minutes, as Gloucester drove hard up the pitch, unleashing their full forward pack to try and secure the levelling score.

An unlucky deflection off a Wotton stick found the home side with an easier route to goal and a clear angle, which they duly took advantage of. The score line then sat at 2-2, with only ten minutes left on the clock.

Wotton then started to move the ball with real purpose, challenging across the park. Sensing a tiring defence, with holes appearing, the attacking duo of David Chevin and Cox drove through the middle of the field, backed by the sniping passes of Hanney, York and Edwards.

Errors by the home side increased as the Wotton pressure started to tell, and a succession of formal warnings put additional pressure on Gloucester.

During this period, a smooth drive into the circle saw Cox with a well-timed strike low into the net, and a resumption of the earlier lead. With 3-2 on the board, and more ideas flowing, Wotton increased the pressure still further, determined to control the match. Gloucester passes were quickly swept up, and all attacks snuffed out quickly as the home side forward withered, having been starved of any useful possession.

The final five minutes passed with a blaze of inventive attacks by Wotton, each seeking out good positions in the circle.

The last of these found Watts in front of goal with three defenders bearing down. Calmly, with poise and style, he slipped the ball past the flailing limbs of the opposition keeper and into the net for a well-deserved two-goal lead, which Wotton held until the final whistle.

Wotton travel to Newent next week, seeking to avenge an early season defeat. With four wins in succession, and a hard-fought victory over Gloucester the most recent, Wotton’s fourth XI should look to continue their drive of success, based on simple confident hockey, and excellent resilient team play under pressure.