Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s third and fourth teams met in the second of this season’s South East Two ‘in-house’ derby fixtures, writes Andrew Coley.

It’s fair to say the fourths haven’t had the best of seasons but they were determined to give the home team a run for their money, even if they did nick Wilf Chun and Matt Sheridan to play for them.

The fourths took a little time to settle into the game and in that time the thirds scored twice with goals from Alex and Matthew Offer-hoar. After that it was a much more even game with the fourths forcing a few saves from Paddy Maher.

The fourths did grab one back before the interval with Rich Lucas knocking in from the edge of the area.

In the second half, the thirds restored the two-goal advantage with a well-worked short corner routine that Josh Cressall scored from.

The fourths never gave up and scored a late goal with Woody Thorpe’s shot just creeping over the line.

Paddy was called into action a few more times but the fourths couldn’t score an equaliser so it ended 3-2 to the home side.

Fourth team captain Dan Weedon said he was proud of the fourth team display and particularly the effort put in by the younger players who have developed so much over the season.