Men's 1st Team Vs Newtown

Goalscorer:  Noor Zaman

It was honours even in this Warwick Printing Hockey League West Midlands Division 1 game. After this first game since the festive break, Yardley still remain without a league win but at least they did not lose and almost pulled off a stunning victory.

Yardley started off well enough and took the lead in the first half. Skipper Zach Jarvis surged through the midfield area and entering the opponents’ final third, slipped the ball to the unmarked Noor Zaman who made no mistake, apart from a slight deflection off the keeper’s pads to give his side the lead that they managed to hold onto until half time.

Yardley continued to create chances during the second half and several times almost added to their slender lead. Newtown too were still well in the game and equalised from a penalty corner. Yardley continued to press forward and a fantastic build up involved Zakariyya Asif on the left wing who took the ball to the by-line before pulling it back to Noor who drew the opposition before squaring right to Zach whose shot on goal was parried out by the Newtown keeper. Noor pounced on this rebound and hit a shot goalwards only to be thwarted by the keeper again  who pulled off an amazing stick save to prevent what would have been a brilliant winning goal.

Yardley will feel disappointed that their efforts could only glean one point, but their opponents will have been delighted to be able to travel back to Powys without losing.