HOCKEY: Wotton seconds lose out in five goal thriller

WOTTON travelled to Plock court for the second time in ten days with hopes of a positive result, although they knew it would be a tougher challenge against Cleevillians who sit in second place in their league.

The game started well for both sides, Cleevillians applying more pressure and Wotton soaking up their attacks like a new sponge on bath night.

Cleevillians took the lead mid-way through the first half, with a well worked short corner routine which was finally deflected high in the roof of the Wotton net. Wotton were still playing well and caused a few nervy moments for their opponents on the break, but were unable to find the killer finish.

Cleevillians, scored two more quick goals before halftime. The first came from Rich Goodwin's poorly struck 16-yard hit, which was intercepted, quickly passed and finished neatly.

The next from an attacker who waltzed through three Wotton players, and passed the ball left for his team mate to score. In the space of minutes Wotton had gone from 1-0 down to 3-0 down at half time, and they were left dumbfounded.

Following a halftime talk by stand-in skipper Chris Price, Wotton were back out and believing they were not out of the game and at the least owed it to themselves to win the second half.

Wotton dug in well, making inroads against their opponents. The midfield of Seb Culpepper, Sam Willcox, Will Cave, Benjy Wells and Price, moved the ball well encouraging their marauding full backs, John Shovelton and player-of-the-match Hayden Brewer, to get up and down the lines, using their stick trickery to full effect.

Wotton were getting back into their rhythm, and good work by Brewer and Archie Cropper down the left resulted in Ben Butter scoring on the reverse to beat the on-rushing keeper.

At 3-1, it was no less than Wotton’s hard work deserved and some well-timed defending from keeper Charlie Thomas, Leo Murray-Davey and Goodwin meant they could build on scoring again.

Wotton now took the game to the Cleevillians with a great spell of hockey, which resulted in a short corner. With the ball injected and stopped, Bull coolly slid the ball right for Culpepper to ghost into the D and strike. The ball was saved well, but dropped to a goal hungry Butter who put it past the defender on the line to take the final score to 3-2.

This was another good performance from Wotton’s seconds. If there had been another five minutes a draw, at the very least, looked as though it was on the cards and would have been thoroughly deserved.