Swindon B 5 - 4 Bath Buccs G

Match report from Alastair:

A very cold but successful penultimate game before the Christmas break and with a team full of changes due to availability challenges we had to call in some old timers - John Scrase making a welcome return to Swindon colours and, in addition, James Fisher playing his first ever hockey match.

Looking fine in the spangly new kit we started well and took an early lead when, after good midfield play John Scrase found himself in space on the right and beating a couple of players played Andy Fraser in at the back post. 1-0

After this we quickly established a first half pattern of not going too far ahead and seemed to want to keep ourselves close to our comfort zone of being behind. A nicely worked goal brought the score back to 1-1.

About midway through the half we won a short corner which Daniel ‘birthday boy’ Bruce scores with a low shot into the left corner of the goal. This time we decided to try to pass the ball out of the back via the opposing centre forward which brought a goal - but not for us. 2-2

We went again - good attacking play - back to front (avoiding the centre forward this time) lead to the ball falling to Alastair Young towards the top of the circle who flicked high into the net. Once again, in the spirit of fair play, we were generous and conceded just before half time, going in 3-3 at the break.

Captain Bruce had a few words about not giving the ball away and then we turned around.

About 10 minutes into the half we won a series of short corners which resulted in Dan Bruce scoring his second of the match.

This time we stayed with the plan and kept the ball - making good progress but not finding the end result. Eventually the pressure paid off as good interplay between Doug MacLeod and Joe H led to another short corner. At this point Dan was getting a little over excited at the prospect of a hat-trick. Unfortunately for him the corner broke down but the ball fell to Ally Young on the penalty spot and he finished to give Swindon a 5-3 lead and a sniff of three points with about 5 minutes remaining. With one eye on entertaining the crowd of four we allowed Bath to score again and with time running down we went for it and conceded a short corner as the final whistle blew. Fortunately, it broke down and we held on for our first points of the season. Not quite enough to overtake our opposition at the bottom of the table - they are 2 goals better off than us, but a satisfying win. Thanks to Linda Brouwers and Adam Silvester for umpiring an open and flowing game.

WE WON!!

MoM - James Fisher ( great debut)