East Men’s Hockey League

Premier B Division

COLCHESTER slumped to a heavy defeat away against Joint leaders Blueharts. The home side started the game the brighter and were two goals to the good in the 10th minute. A couple of quick breaks by the hosts pulled the Colchester defence apart and gave Jack Gardner in the Colchester goal little chance.

Colchester then began to get some good possession and a foothold into the match. A good run down the right by Joe Rich saw him reach the goal-line; Rich drove along the line before slipping a pass to the back post for Jack Devitt to push the ball into the empty net. This began a spell of good pressure for the visitors and another run by the impressive Rich almost paid dividends. This time Rich drove in from the left and drew a foul, however the umpire played on and Rich fired narrowly wide at the near post from a tight angle.

Colchester battled hard but in the dying minutes of the first half the hosts scored their third and fourth goals to put the game beyond Colchester.

In the second half, Colchester continued to battle and created a few chances to get back into the match, Vince Moore and Lloyd Dennis both firing the ball high after getting into good positions and Colchester had a shot fired against the post.

It was the hosts that added to the goal tally adding their fifth and sixth goals by the halfway point of the half. Colchester continued to battle on but their hosts were just too good, with Blueharts rounding off the scoring with ten minutes to go. The hosts thought they had an eighth on the stroke of full time; however the umpire correctly disallowed the goal for a back of the stick infringement.

Colchester were disappointed with how much respect they gave their hosts and will be hoping to rectify their problems when they travel to fellow strugglers Long Sutton next week.

Colchester Round-Up

There was an emphatic win for the second eleven in division 3SE, as they ran out 7-1 victors at home to Chelmsford 3rd XI. The third eleven also registered a comfortable win, beating Brentwood 4th XI 4-0. The fourth eleven remain top of division 8SE despite drawing 2 all with second bottom Brentwood 6th XI.