Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s second team played the penultimate match of their Southern One season and were beaten by the odd goal in seven by visiting Truro A.

The game was so typical of many that the team have played this league season, one in which they competed well only to end up as narrow losers.

A big positive to draw from the game was that many of the youngsters involved were playing out of their normal positions and yet coped very well which augers well for the future.

SOHC struck first with James Broad scoring, but Truro hit back to lead 2-1 at half-time.

After the break, the home side made a sluggish start and Truro took advantage, netting an early third.

SOHC fought back and halved the deficit with a short corner routine that ended with Jack Ellison scoring.

Playing with real confidence, SOHC moved the ball about the pitch with precision and it was no more than they deserved when a wonderful long ball from captain George Powell found Henry Mutter in the D and Mutter applied a clinical finish to level things up.

A late goal for the away side left SOHC beaten, but there was enough in the general performance to suggest that next season things, for the second team, will be better.

The side line coaching from Steve Ellison played a big part and the final game of the season is on Saturday (March 25) when SOHC Travel to meet an East Devon side they beat 5-1 when the teams met at Sidmouth before Christmas. A similar result this time round would give SOHC a splendid double and see the team into double figure points for the league campaign.

Southern One table before the final round of matches on March 25

P W D L GD Pts

Duchy 21 15 2 4 37 47

ECV Hornets 21 15 1 5 35 46

Uni of Exeter D 21 13 1 7 21 40

Okehampton 21 12 4 5 16 40

Bodmin 21 11 3 7 12 36

East Devon 21 8 4 9 -4 28

Truro A 21 8 3 10 -2 27

Uni of Exeter E 21 7 4 10 3 25

Torbay 21 7 4 10 -17 25

Isca B** 21 7 3 11 -14 21

OPM 21 4 3 14 -25 15

Sid & Ottery A 21 1 4 16 -62 7