Hockey English National Men's Trophy

Wotton-under-Edge 3 Plympton Grammar School Old Boys (PGSOB) 2

WOTTON-under-Edge are celebrating a tremendous victory that has taken them through to the third round of the English Men 's National Trophy in February.

Wotton beat Plympton Grammar School Old Boys, who are in the Conference South tier of Wales and West region hockey, the same level as Wotton's Conference North.

Wotton will now play London sideTulse Hill and Dulwich for a place in the quarter-finals.

And chairman Stuart Emms said he was delighted with a fine performance, particularly as a couple of regulars were missing on Sunday.

Emms said: "First of all, it was a good atmosphere and we had a lot of people from the club supporting the boys.

"A few (regular) players had other commitments on the day but what was pleasing was that the young players who came up from the other squads got some pitch time."

Emms said Wotton were ready to give the competition their best shot, with the final being played at London's Olympic Park.

"It becomes a bit difficult to judge what the other teams we will be facing are like now as we are out of the West region and into a national competition with teams from other leagues.

"But we will go into it with our eyes open and go for it. We have a good team and we will back ourselves to do well."

On a cold but dry day, the sell-out Wotton crowd was in high spirits and giving plenty of support.

Wotton had a young, and enthusiastic, but inexperienced team, and the first 15 minutes wasn’t going as planned. Wotton were giving PGSOB plenty of the ball, which gave the opposition’s midfield time to pick passes and create a few chances.

A number of short corners fell to PGSOB in a short space of time, bringing Wotton keeper George De Gea Lampkin into action with a diving save from a drag flick.

While the team took time to settle into the game, the forward play was still up to the usual standard; the first goal of the game came from the ever-reliable Ryan Howarth, with a powerful drag flick high to the keeper’s right, so powerful it hit the defender’s shoulder and still went in the net.

As the half went on, the fitness of the young Wotton side showed and a second goal came as the ball came in from the right; a miss tap from Howarth pushed the ball to Andy Edwards who placed a powerful slap past the keeper.

PGSOB were restricted to short corners for goal scoring chances, and a slip left allowed an unmarked player to flick the ball into the near corner.

At half time, some strong positive words from captain Alistair Hammond whipped Wotton back into shape.

The second half was a much more controlled game by Wotton, giving the opposition no room to play the long-ball hockey they wanted. With everyone pulling their weight and playing as a well-drilled team, chances came and went, only giving away short corners for the opposition to capitalise on. If it hadn’t been for the Wotton short-corner team using all sorts of techniques to keep the ball out, including a typical Hammond charge, the score line could have been a lot different.

After dominating the second half, Wotton were unable to get the extra goal that the fans craved, and a scrappy but unfortunate goal fell to a PGSOB player in the D only to flick the ball into an empty net.

With debutants Callum Niddrie and Jamie Chalmers coming on and falling into the team like they’d been playing with the firsts all season, Wotton got the third, and final, goal via a fortunate touch by the opposition’s defender to Harry Willcox, following excellent build up work from Wotton’s defenders to their forwards, which allowed Willcox to slap the ball in to the goal.

After a few nervy PGSOB short corners, the final whistle went 3-2. Wotton are into Round 3 of the England Hockey Men’s Trophy, against ‘Tulse Hill & Dulwich’ on Sunday 7 February.