Bath Buccaneers 5 Chelmsford 0

Slazenger Men's EHL

Division One

Bath Buccaneers 5 Chelmsford 0

Chelmsford succumbed to their seventh consecutive league defeat as an in-form Bath Buccaneers team put five past them in heavy rain.

The visitors did have spells during the match when they impressed and created numerous opportunities, most notably a period of ten minutes when they played some excellent attacking hockey in the second half, however, the Essex side were on the back foot for the majority of the game.

Bath had the majority of the possession, due in part to Chelmsford's inability to keep the ball for lengthy periods, thereby never being able to sustain lengthy periods of territory and pressure.

The difference in the game could perhaps be highlighted by comparisons of each other's first penalty corners. Chelmsford's injection bobbled over the stoppers stick, while Chris Cunningham's brilliant effort flew into the top right corner for a superb opening goal.

While the opening goal was undoubtedly classy, the second was undeniably fortunate. The original shot rebounded off the post, rolling into the back of Dean Armstrong's pads before generously falling at Phillip Rae's stick only inches from the goal line, from where he could not miss.

James Kellock then got into the act for the West Country side as he hit the final three goals, including a late penalty corner conversion.

In the final two games before the winter break, Chelmsford host Brooklands on Saturday, before travelling to former Premier League mainstays Guildford on Sunday (both 12.00pm).