Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s 2nd XI were edged out 2-1 by East Devon 2nds.

A warm afternoon for the final pre-league warm-up game certainly meant that fitness would be put to the test!

Josh Miller and Treeve Harris were promoted into the side to give the starting XI a more youthful look. The team was also boosted by the return of a couple of ‘old faces’ – with the inclusion of Ben Foley and Ian Brown.

SOHC started very tentatively, giving East Devon a lot of time on the ball and this allowed them to push forward and take the lead.

Slowly, but surely, SOHC bagged a foothold in the contest and, with good work from Nick ‘walkabout’ Goode, James Broad and JD, in the middle of the pitch, they began to make an impression.

The equaliser arrived from a penalty corner, but the lead was regained by East Devon just five minutes later to leave all three of the match goals being scored in the first half.

In what became a solid all-round team performance there was an impressive shift in the forward line from Luke Tierney.