Sidmouth & Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s third team travelled to Exeter to take on Isca E in a South East Two contest and, despite competing for long periods, lost 1-0.

With several regulars unavailable, and the fourth team not playing, Paul Baker, Nigel Dupain, Steve Harris and Andrew Coley all stepped in and raised the average age of the team quite significantly!

Skipper Dilly Olive set up the team with Sam Lefebvre up front but with Peter Milmer and Charlie Piper having licence to push high. Alex Brassington took up the sweeper role at the top of the defence.

The formation worked well to start with, as pressure was applied but mid-way through the half Isca scored on the break.

Isca took a degree of control as the half went on but couldn't extend their lead.

In the second half, the thirds got back into the swing of things and applied pressure for much of the half.

Lefebvre and Piper both had difficult chances to level the scores and on occasion, some resolute defending was needed, but Paddy Maher's skills weren't called on very often, but he reacted well when they were. James Plant also had a good game and put in some timely tackles.

Unfortunately, the thirds couldn't make their attacks count and missed out on any points.