Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s second team emerged from their meeting with the club’s first team with a very creditable draw.

What’s more, with the SOHC men’s first team having won all their matches before the in-house derby, and the 2nd XI being without a win all season, the odds were stacked against the 2nd team.

The 1st XI were hamstrung by the fact that they were only able to field 10 players, but that should not detract from what was an exceptional all-round shift from the 2nds.

They showed terrific improvement from recent performances with plenty of good communication and bags of discipline in their play, and they also moved the ball about with crispness and precision.

Special mention must be made of the shift from 2nd XI glovesman Joe Button, who made a number of superb stops to fully warrant trooping off at full-time with a clean sheet to his name.

Thanks are also due to the efforts of Andy Dockley and Nick Emson for stepping in to help the 2nds field a full eleven.