In their final game of the extended season, Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club men’s combined third and fourth team took on the club’s ladies’ first team.
In what turned out to be a competitive match, it was the men’s team that claimed the victory, with a 1-3 win.
In the early stages of the game, the men’s side held sway with some good passing hockey, allowing them to control the play.
During this period, they scored two goals. The first came from a swift passing move which resulted in Sam Gammon firing his shot into the goal.
The second came from a short corner involving Andy Dockley, Marlon McMahon and Andy Coley, with the latter deflecting the ball into the goal.
As the match progressed, so the ladies started to make their skills count and applied some pressure on the men’s defence, which resulted in a series of short corners.
As a result, they grabbed a goal back, with Maisie Pritchard hitting the backboard.
For the rest of the half, it was the ladies who had the better of the play, with the men forced into some errors.
In Captain Dan Weedon’s half-time talk, he called on the team to get back to the basics of control and pass, so in the second half, it was a more composed performance from the men’s team.
Although the match remained competitive, it was the men who scored the only goal of the second half, with McMahon converting from a short corner.
In the only other game to be played at the weekend, the ladies’ fourth team lost 4-0 in an away fixture against Exeter Uni and Isca 5/6.
Despite it being the last weekend of fixtures at the end of an extended and disjointed season, there was an air of positivity among the players.
Having finished relatively late in the year, it is only a few months until pre-season training begins and hopes are high for the return of a regular season.