Men's 2nd X1
Matches
Sat 02 Mar 2019  ·  Central 2
North Wilts
4
3
SWINDON HOCKEY CLUB
Men's 2nd X1
North Wilts 4 - Swindon 3

North Wilts 4 - Swindon 3

Thomas Silvester4 Mar 2019 - 18:44
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In a tense derby North Wilts came out victors in a 6 pointer that meant near certain safety to Nwilts and a huge dent in Swindon's chances of automatic safety.

Swindon enter the weekend 4 points behind North Wilts with a game in hand. A win today and Sunday would have 2 points on North Wilts, a loss today and North Wilts will have a 7 point gap on Swindon with 4 games left (for Swindon).

N Wilts dominated the possession for the opening exchanges, Swindon's press restricting the home side switching the play back and forth. Swindon had the first chance of the game with a well won short corner by Aiden. Swindon loaded the right hand side, Aiden shaping up to flick, but sliding the ball back to the injector Callum Bird, who slapped the ball first time just wide of the Nwilts goal.

The play moved back and forth between the two teams, neither managing to make their attacks count. Nwilts started to apply more and more pressure, Swindon managing to contain their attacks. In one such attack Swindon's marking failed and were at sixes and sevens, the ball falling to former Swindon player Dicko, who coolly slotted it into the Swindon net. N Wilts 1 - Swindon 0

Swindon kept their heads after falling behind, taking it in their stride. Swindon won a short corner again from another one of Aiden's powerful drives into the D, getting fouled once in the D. At the pre corner huddle Tim Taylor stepped up and claimed straight strike with such authority and certainty everyone nodded. The injection was good, the trap good and Tim's strike straight down the middle was brilliant. It went in through the keepers legs, more from shear will than anything. N Wilts 1 - Swindon 1.

North Wilts were now in disarray, completely perplexed that we dared to fight back. Swindon pushed hard, moving the ball quickly from front to back. But no attacks mounted to serious attempt at goal. The half ended as sweat relief to N wilts, with Swindon disappointed not to have capitalised in their brief time on top.

The half began with Swindon and N Wilts both sharing possession equally but neither controlling the game. North Wilts won a short corner, running a clever routine and slotting the ball in the net. Not much Swindon could have done there. Nwilts 2 - Swindon 1.

Swindon struggled to come back from the second goal. Simples passes become hard and the rhythm of the first half eluded them. That was until Elliot Duff and Tom Sewell stepped up. Elliot battled for the ball deep in his own half, securing the ball before then driving into enemy territory, skinning several players before offloading to Tom Sewell before being taken out in an agricultural tackle. Tom using his pace beat a man, taking the ball into the D on his favoured reverse side before smashing a clean reverse into the top corner - it was like a Federer back hand and was so clean the rest of the team thought it had missed and hit the side netting. Nwilts 2 - Swindon 2.

Game on and everything to play for. Swindon now had the upper hand and the majority of the possession, Nwilts still looked dangerous on the counter. Swindon would later regret not capitalising on this time. Swindon gave away a penalty corner, this time it was saved by Chris Lurchton however Mike Smith, stood just off to his side took no chances tried to stop the ball instinctively and helped it into the net. Chris argues he had saved it, Mike maintains it was already going in. Nwilts 3 - Swindon 2

Again, Swindon gave away another penalty coroner and again we lived to regret it. This time North Wilts lucked out, having to improvise as their corner disintegrated around them, but finding a man free on the left of the D, who picked his spot. North Wilts 4 - Swindon 2.

Drastic times, Swindon went to 3 at the back, 3 in the center of midfield. North Wilts slowed the game down and played every trick in the book to play out the final 10 minutes without further incident. With 2 minutes left to play Swindon applied all the pressure they had, not allowing the score line get in the way of a professional finish. Swindon won a short in the dying moments, the whole team came up and were instructed to flood the right of the goal. Tom Sewell was going to then straight strike, using the right overload to create space for his shot. However, the injection went wide of Matthew Wilcox, who threw the plan out the window and hit the ball goal ward, scoring with the last play of the game and in doing so ensuring he remained top scorer for the team. Full time North Wilts 4 - Swindon 3.

A close game where no Swindon player can honestly say they were at their best. Now to Keynsham tomorrow with a chance to show just how good we are, giving us a chance of staving off relegation though being the least worst 3rd team finisher in our tier of the hockey league.

MOM: Tom Sewell - cracking goal
DOD: Joe - got caught in a football goal netting and face planted halfway through the first half

Match details

Match date

Sat 02 Mar 2019

Kickoff

10:30

Competition

Central 2

League position

8
North Wilts
11
Swindon A
Team overview
Further reading