England Hockey League – Men’s Division 1 South: Sevenoaks 3 University of Bristol 2
The second home game of the season saw Sevenoaks welcome the University of Bristol to Hollybush. Despite their difficult start to the league campaign following promotion into the National Division One South, Bristol were not to be underestimated.
Following their 2-0 victory away on the road against Oxford Hawks, Oaks were keen to get their first home win under the belt and to carry forward last week’s momentum.
Bristol began the game strongly, winning an early short corner. Oaks’ goalkeeper Richard Potton was more than up to the task, battering away the student’s first attempt on goal. Oaks then grew into the game and started outletting well, eventually culminating in a slick counter attacking move involving several team members.
Ben Allberry finished off this dynamic passage of play giving Oaks an early lead within the first ten minutes. Bristol came back strongly threading together a fine attack and winning their second short corner. This time they executed well, beating Potton low to his right and equalising with the final play of the quarter.
Oaks came out the blocks in the second quarter dominating possession and creating numerous attacking opportunities. A well earned short corner saw Paul MacLeod unleash a sumptuous drag flick into the right side of the goal giving Oaks the lead once again. Oaks enjoyed plenty of the ball with good territory, restricting Bristol to their own half for large passages.
The third goal of the game arrived shortly thereafter when Ben Selby robbed the Bristol midfielder, shifted the ball to Sevenoaks captain Chris Barker who found Ben Allberry to calmly dispatch his second of the game. In search of his hat trick Ben Allberry unfortunately picked up a hamstring injury just before the end of the second quarter relegating him to the bench for the remainder of the match. 3-1 to Sevenoaks at half time.
The third quarter saw Bristol rally and create space for themselves in Oaks’ half. They turned the screw and put Oaks under continued pressure for the majority of the quarter. The Oaks defence coped well under the cosh, however a deserved short corner for the visitors was sufficient to reduce the deficit. Any momentum that Oaks attempted to build was diminished by green cards for Nick Barker and Nathan Palmer. Oaks dug in though, maintaining their lead at the end of the quarter.
Unsurprisingly, the fourth quarter resembled more of a basketball game with Bristol forced to throw caution to the wind in search for the equaliser. Both teams squandered open play chances and short corners alike in the final five minutes. A hard earned corner for Oaks saw a Bristol defender clear well off the line from James Beck’s goal bound drag flick. Oaks ultimately showed their experience over the travelling student outfit, safely securing possession for the final few minutes, and with it the three points. 3-2 the final score.
A hard earned home victory for Sevenoaks puts them joint second in the league going into the mid season break. Sevenoaks return to Hollybush on Saturday 29th October to host Kent rivals Canterbury.
England Hockey League – Women’s Division 1 South: Surbiton 1 Sevenoaks 2
After a disappointing loss last week to the University of Exeter it was great to see Sevenoaks Ladies 1’s get back to winning ways with three points and a win away to Surbiton.
The first quarter started strong, with some great connections in attack which led to Sevenoaks taking the early lead through a Susie Rowe short corner conversion where she fired the ball into the bottom left hand corner. The second quarter continued to be fruitful with a great ball that was threaded through from Jo Westwood through to Mckenzie Bell who passed it across the goal to Sophie Maunder for the finish.
Quarter’s three and four saw a slight momentum shift and unfortunately led to a Surbiton goal which took the scoreline to 2-1. After some end to end action in the final quarter, GK Meg James made a phenomenal save to keep the home team at bay and to secure a well deserved three points.
With a rest weekend this week, there is plenty of time for Sevenoaks to regroup before their next fixture also against Canterbury at Hollybush Lane on October 29th at 2pm.
