Davis Wood League South 1

Sidmouth HC Men’s 1st XI 2, Ashmoor 3

Sidmouth were beaten by the odd goal in five in a contest that produced two contrasting styles of hockey, writes Charlie Plowden.

Pre-match, Sidmouth got a boost with the return from injury of Nick Wade, whilst Pete Baker was also back, having completed his university commitments.

With an eye to the future, Chris Lewis and Andy Joy were moved into the central midfield roles with Sidmouth College’s rising star, Charlie Please, taking the right midfield role.

The opening skirmishes showed two differing styles of hockey, Ashmoor using the route one approach, with long, aerial passes travelling direct to their dangerous centre forward and Sidmouth using width and a faster recycling approach that optimised Scotty Rowson’s passing game.

Ashmoor raced into a two goal lead, despite Dormand and Brown making a number of timely tackles and Hill making his customary outstanding saves in goal.

A goal-keeping error saw Wade halve the deficit just before the break.

The second half saw the Sidmouth midfield take charge, forcing a string of penalty corners which ended with an equaliser via the stick of Lewis.

With five minutes remaining and Sidmouth looking comfortable, it was Ashmoor’s aerial bombardment that forced another late penalty corner, which again, was executed clinically for the hosts to seal a narrow victory.

There are many positives for Sidmouth to draw on from the game, one that saw them control proceedings for long passages of play.

They will need to repeat the positives tomorrow when they face Ottery Crickets in what is always a keenly-contested derby match.