Sidmouth and Ottery Hockey Club (SOHC) men’s fifth team scored three times for the second successive outing as they beat East Devon D 3-1, writes Steve Ellison

It became a case of fourth time lucky for the fifth team who had yet to win a match this season before the visit of East Devon.

As they had done the week before, the netted three goals, though, unlike the previous week when they had to settle for a share of the spoils, this time they shipped only one goal to claim all three points and bag a first win of the campaign.

Player drop-outs on the morning of the match did not help, but the team, playing in a new formation, shook off any worries of not gelling by turning in a wonderful all-round performance.

The opening exchanges saw the visitors’ attacks well contained before, in the 15th minute, John Tierney opened the scoring with a trademark firecracker of a shot from the left.

East Devon restored parity soon after when, following some slack marking, they netted with a free hit from just outside the 23 metre line.

Undaunted by being pegged back, SOHC were soon back on the front foot moving the ball crisply around the pitch.

Richard Lucas, playing his first game this season for the team, restored the SOHC lead with a neat shot from the top left of the D, moving right to find the lower left corner of the goal with an accurate shot.

That completed the first half scoring and so SOHC went into the break with a narrow advantage.

East Devon began the second half with real intent and piled on the pressure. However, the young SOHC midfield worked hard and the experienced defence and keeper were disciplined and organised to effectively repel the best that the opposition could throw at them.

The loss of a particularly influential player proved pivotal as the East Devon attacking play eased off and the balance of power in the game began to shift back towards SOHC.

It was John Tierney who ensured the points for his team when he rifled the ball home from a narrow angle to complete the scoring.

After the game, victorious captain Andy Dockley was full of praise for his team.

This Saturday (November 12) the fifth team travel to Exeter School for a 2.30pm start against Isca E.

SOHC: Smale, Dudding, Ellison S, Dockley A, Chun J, Crick, Lucas, Cortinhas G, Coley, Williams C, Tierney J.