Davis Wood Hockey League

De Cymru & Marches Division One

Wotton-under-Edge 5 Lansdown 4

WOTTON came out on top in a nine-goal thriller against Lansdown.

The game started with Lansdown pushing Wotton into their 25.

Wotton overcame this pressure and Ash Langham, playing on the left quickly moved the ball on to Ryan Howarth, who drove strong into the D and passed the ball neatly for Darren Pearce to slot home on their first attack.

Two minutes later the away team were on the attack again and a sweet pass from Rob Davies to Dave Newns gave him the chance to shuffle inside the D and cheekily flick the ball over two defenders and the goalie, making it 2-0.

Six minutes into the game Wotton were 3-0 up with Ryan Howarth adding his name to the scoresheet.

Lansdown shell-shocked but scored two goals in quick succession to bring it back to 3-2.

Two yellows and three green cards for Wotton made the game tense.

However, a short corner was awarded and a shot from Rob Davies gave Wotton a 4-2 lead.

Lansdown have a habit of reacting to threat and came back with a goal of their own to make it 4-3.

With cards flying everywhere, the formations of both teams had to change from time to time, which set the team with the least players on pitch at the time in to a defensive state, both teams doing well to keep the ball away from their D until players came back on.

Wotton weren’t finished though and James Cruickshank found Darren Pearce with a thunderous pass straight to stick for him to turn on the spot and blast home straight through the keeper's legs.

The home side threw everything they had at the Blues and soon managed to get a short corner, scoring a rocket but Wotton hung on to take the three points.

For amazing effort, composure and fantastic hockey throughout the game, man of the match went to Michael Buist.

East Central Division One

Wotton-under-Edge 2nds 3 Lansdown 2nds 1

THOUGHTS of Lansdown’s prolific 11–0 victory the previous week loomed over the Wotton team as they prepared to continue with their own winning ways.

In the opening minutes, Wotton had not fully woken up and conceded a soft goal.

This sparked life back into the team and late into the first half, after piling on heavy pressure, Wotton finally equalised through a finely tuned passing move. After Sam Willcox left his marker coughing up his dust, he slipped the ball to captain Matthew Tait. His defence-splitting through ball to Dan Jones led to an accurate ball across the goal, where Andy Stockley was waiting to finish with finesse past the flailing goalkeeper.

In the second half Wotton continued to pile on the pressure, resulting in two goals from penalty corners.

The first came from an initial save from the goalkeeper, but John Shovelton, scoring his first goal for his new club, was waiting to dispense the ball from the air into the top of the net.

The second was a pin-point accurate strike from the top of the D from James Bull, clipping the inside of the post beyond the keeper's reach.

This was a solid win for the boys in blue, who will be looking to maintain their 100 per cent start to the season away at Leominster on Saturday.

The Marches Two

Wotton-under-Edge 3rds 1 Cheltenham E 1

CALLUM Niddrie slapped home a last-minute goal as Wotton secured a deserved draw against Cheltenham E.

Under the pump for much of the first half, Wotton dug deep and started to find gaps in the visiting defence midway through the second period.

With the clock ticking, the ball was moved right and then into the D for Niddrie to finish.

West Clubs Women’s Hockey League

Berkley Division Two

Wotton 2nds 0 Wick 2nds 0

A NAIL-biting game saw Wotton hold the majority of possession with great passing play and a determination to win.

However, the ladies couldn’t get the ball through Wick’s defence and the match ended as a draw.

The ladies first team did not have a game.