LTHC Men’s 1st XI 4 at Boots Men’s 1st XI 0
MRHA T1 – Midlands Premier
Saturday 20th October 2018
Following a strong performance last week, Loughborough Town Hockey Club Men’s 1st XI travelled to Boots Hockey Club Men’s 1st XI with confidence and a slightly altered squad including a noteable debut performance from Slaney.
Town started well, overcoming Boots’ only real promising spell. Town continued their attacking and looked strong in doing so. After ten minutes Town won a second corner of the game, a good injection out to the top of the D was stopped well leaving Bowden an excellent chance for a drag, which he slotted down the middle of the goal in the ‘danger zone’.
With continued pressure on Boots, Town won another penalty corner. The injection however was not quite so accurate which meant the second castle struggled with the stop, the ball fell to Randall who showed composure to pick out Godwin inside the D, he teed it up and connected sweetly on the half volley straight to Curd for a simple tap in on the back post. A poor foul from Guy saw the first card of the game for Town, shockingly it was given to Sign. Town entered half time 2-0 up and looking strong.
Town came out strong once again and kept control of the game with keeper Hie having a lot less to do than previous games. After 20 minutes a poor foul in the opponents D led to a penalty stroke being awarded, Bowden stepped up and buried it for his second of the game.
Although leading, chances were still coming regularly for Town, notably a shot from Curd which flew over the bar, almost as if he played baseball. Another chance came as France broke well, through onto the halfway line, some neat skill put the ball on an opponents foot however the umpire didn’t agree. Riled with fury France tracked back well and put in a firm challenge, somehow receiving a yellow card.
Another cynical foul from Guy, from which he deservedly saw yellow, left some fans wondering if perhaps he had stepped onto the wrong pitch.
Some nice build up play saw Bowden in once again, and he neatly buried the ball over the keepers left shoulder to give him the hattrick. A strong performance all round, especially from Proctor both defensively and offensively. A good first win of the season, with hopefully many more to come.
