Men's 1st Team Vs Droitwich

This week’s hockey report :

YARDLEY   0       DROITWICH SPA    2

This game in the Warwick printing Hockey League West Midlands 1 was played out in probably the worst weather conditions of the season so far.

The wet and very blustery conditions did nothing to enhance this game between two of the bottom three teams in the league. However, the visitors seemed to settle into their game better early on and exerted some pressure on the home defence from the start. However, Yardley’s defence remained steadfast and gradually the team took heart from this and began to even out the play. For the remainder of the first half both teams attacked whenever possible and both defences remained pretty solid.  Both teams had good opportunities late in the half but at the break there was still nothing between the teams in spite of the conditions.

At the start of the second half both teams tried to raise their game in their efforts to score first. It was Droitwich who scored mid-way through the half when a free hit on the left found its way into the D and onto a forward waiting at the far post. A simple tap in was all that was needed to beat any defence.  Yardley tried to get back into the game and several times, Gavin Hetherington burst out from defence on surging runs up field only for his efforts to come to nothing. It was as a result of Yardley pushing up in numbers that a Droitwich breakaway attack caught the remaining defenders on the back foot and led to a second goal to make the game safe.

The game ended in even worse playing conditions than at the start. Droitwich had made the most of their few chances and deserved the three points while Yardley will rue a somewhat lacklustre performance after several promising recent weeks.

This week Yardley travel to promotion hopefuls, Redditch.

Report sent in by Peter Brainch (Publicity Officer and Club Secretary)