Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s fourth team put in a great performance against a top-of-the-table Chard side, but came out on the wrong side of a 5-3 score line, writes Andrew Coley.

With 15 players at his disposal for the contest, captain Dan Weedon worked out a rough rolling substitutes plan to keep as many players as fresh as possible.

Unfortunately, SOHC made a slow start that was punished by a slick home side that struck twice inside the first 10 minutes. However, once SOHC settled into the contest they matched the league leaders in a lot of the play.

The younger members of the side acquitted themselves well, with Will Harris, Charlie Piper and Lawrence Walker working well together in midfield.

There were also good performances from Elliott Bowyer, Matt Jeacock, Sam Lefebvre and Kishan Prasad.

Chard extended their lead to three before Nigel Dupain got one back from a short corner.