Men's England Hockey Trophy

Wotton 4 Tulse Hill & Dulwich 1

WOTTON-under-Edge are a step nearer a dream trip to the Olympic Park in London after reaching the Men's England Hockey Trophy quarter-finals on Sunday.

After a battling win against West Wilts in the league the day before, the men in blue looked to cap the perfect weekend by winning at home in front of a packed house.

The home team were determined to play with intensity and certainly did this by taking an early lead through a well-placed Mike Buist goal into the net.

Wotton certainly enjoyed the better of the early play and this lead to more chances falling their way after good work from both midfield and attack.

Wotton doubled their lead after Ash Lingham finished a neat cross from Ryan Howarth to send the crowd wild.

Tulse Hill and Dulwich seemed to spark into life after this and piled men of their own forward.

Some excellent play by the imperious Wotton defenders including James Cruickshank, Seb Culpepper, Jago Cropper, Henry Patteson and captain Alistair Hammond kept the away team at bay.

Despite this, the pressure soon told and the Londoners pulled a goal back to go into half-time with a score of 2-1.

A half-time team talk settled any nerves that Wotton may have had and they were able to start the second-half strongly despite the wind and rain which followed.

Again Tulse Hill and Dulwich refused to lay down and continued to pile players forward.

George Lampkin kept the home team in it with some fine saves at an important time in the match.

The away team were getting frustrated and Wotton added to this with the evergreen Andy Edwards able to finish from close range and a typically rampaging run into the D.

The midfield duo of Rob Davies and the mature Dave Newns kept Wotton ticking with the former taking one for the team and spending two minutes in the sin bin for breaking down play.

Wotton finished the game off with a Ryan Howarth short corner, which had been won by defender and skipper Hammond who had suddenly found himself in the opposing D.

Wotton held on with some do-or-die defending from the whole team, who all played fantastically well, with the man of the match accolade going to skipper Hammond.

Wotton play Blackheath Hockey Club, established in 1861 and officially “the oldest hockey club in the world”, for a place in the semis.

It is, however, going to be a big task with the game taking place in London on February 28 and Blackheath in good form, having travelled to Waltham Forest in their third round match and returned with a 6-1 victory under their belts.