LTHC Men’s 3rd XI 2 vs Berkswell & Balsall Common Men’s 1st XI 8
MRHA T2 – East Midlands 1
Saturday 20th October 2018
Loughborough Town Men’s 3rd came into this week’s game looking to gain their first points of the season after the disappointing results the previous three weeks. Berkswell & Balsall Common Men’s 1st XI were also looking for their first points of the season, so by the end of this game at least one team would have points on the board.
Town welcomed back into the side Nathan Hunt, Hugo Wignall & Tom Smith as they returned after missing last week’s fixture. However, influential captain Pete Hayes was missing due to holiday commitments, his place was taken by Wignall.
Stand in captain Mark Dalby lost the coin toss, though the previous three games Hayes had won the toss and all games resulted in losses, so this bowed well for a change in fortune.
Town started well and were switched on from the off and created a few chances as the young guns Jono Griffiths and Ollie Jephcott along with Chris Hastings created chances up front. However Berkswell managed to score two goals from open play which goalkeeper Tom Smith didn’t stand a chance in stopping. Though before the end of the first half Town pull one back after some good work from Nathan Byrne, Mike Reina and Tommy Ross in the build up, lead to Jephcott slotting home to make it 2-1.
Whilst only down by 1 at half-time Town looked to gain momentum in the early part of the second half, though this was cut short when Berkswell scored two goals to make it 4-1. Town responded well playing some really good hockey, and pull it back to within two when Chris Hastings scored. This gave the team confidence that they could get something out of this game, though again Berkswell scored another two goals to increase their lead to 6-2.
With ten minutes to go Town lost centre back Rory Cook to a minor groin pull which shouldn’t hopefully to bad and he’ll be ready for next week’s game. Liam Brown did a good job as stand for the last ten minutes though the team conceded another two goals, and the game finished as an 8-2 loss.
Whilst it was another disappointing result, Town can take heart in that they put in 100% effort and played well in patches throughout the game. So if they can take this positive play and do this for a whole 70 minutes next week then I’m sure this will result in their first points this season. Man of the Match was a close call between Jephcott, Dalby and Hunt, though Nathan Hunt took the honours.
Town will look to rebound next Saturday when they visit Melton HC Men’s 1st XI.
