Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s second team were emphatic 6-2 winners when they travelled across into Somerset to meet bottom-of-the-table Chard.

SOHC were forced to play the opening 10 minutes without their regular goalkeeper, who was late in arriving at the venue.

Skipper Charlie Plowden ‘took over’ as temporary goalkeeper but, in what was a strong start by his side, was a virtual spectator as all the play centred on the opposite end of the pitch!

In what was a dominant first half, SOHC went ahead after a tidy short coroner deflection from Treeve Harris. When a second short corner presented itself, it was turned home by Nick Goode and then, just before the break, skipper Plowden rifled the ball home from the edge of the D to send his side into half-time with a 3-0 lead.

The second half saw the home side change their tactics and adopt a much higher press. This gave them more of a threat, but it was SOHC who scored next with a close range finish from Gabe Cortinhas. The home side hit back with a clinical finish and, as the shape of the SOHC side fell away, Chard took advantage to score a second goal.

However, SOHC were soon back on the front foot and a terrific finish from Ben Plowden – his goal meaning father and son had scored in the same game – made it 5-2. Injury forced the unfortunate Euan Webber out of the contest, but there was still time for one last goal with Gabe Cortinhas scoring with just about the final touch of the match.

The SOHC Man of the Match award went to Andy Dockley, who made an impressive return to the action from retirement.

Tomorrow (Saturday) SOHC 2nd XI, who sit sixth in the South East One table, entertain an East Devon side that will start the match sitting two places and two points better off than them.