NE14Hockey East Men's LeaguePremier BLong Sutton 2 Colchester 3COLCHESTER finally registered their first win of the season with a hard fought victory away at Long Sutton.

NE14Hockey East Men's League

Premier B

Long Sutton 2 Colchester 3

COLCHESTER finally registered their first win of the season with a hard fought victory away at Long Sutton. The visitors came back from two goals down to register their win with the last touch of the match.

A much changed Colchester side made the trip up to Lincolnshire hoping to improve on a record which had seen them pick up just two points from their first nine games. Matt Brown was recalled to the side for his first appearance of the season and there was a debut for Goalkeeper Ross Stannard after a freak injury to Grant Hibbert in training.

The first half was a nervous affair with neither side creating many chances, however the visitors were indebted to Stannard who made a couple of nice saves and Matt Low for clearing the ball off the line from a Penalty Corner strike. Colchester had a lot of possession first half but couldn't quite find the telling final ball to create a clear cut chance.

The second half started with Colchester looking to press on in search of that first win which provided the hosts with the first goal. With many of the Colchester players caught forward Long Sutton broke quickly and slung a long ball up to an unmarked forward on the top of the 'D' who controlled the ball before passing the ball past the advancing Stannard.

Midway through the half Long Sutton had doubled their advantage. A loose pass out of defence from Michael Pearce gave the ball straight to a home attacker who had a clear run at the Colchester goal. Once again the ball was slipped past Stannard to make the score 2-0.

Colchester were not disheartened and were creating chances. With about 10 minutes remaining Colchester got back into the match. Rohan Khaira did well to dispossess a Long Sutton defender. Khaira then played a one-two with Matt Brown before driving along the baseline. Khaira's centred pass found Tom Philp on the Penalty Spot who swept the ball home.

Colchester then found an equaliser when Rob Mann was bundled over in the 'D' after a pass from Michael Pearce. After a few minutes delaying tactics by the Long Sutton keeper Matt Brown stepped up to take the Penalty Flick which he put to keepers right to make the score 2-2.

As the game went on it was Colchester that were pressing for the win. A long ball up to Matt Brown saw him one on one with the Long Sutton keeper, however Brown was unable to beat the keeper as set up the win.

On the stroke of full time Colchester were awarded a penalty corner which meant that the visitors could not lose the game but would have one last chance to score to get the win. The penalty corner was perfect with Matt Brown drag flicking the ball high into the top corner to spark celebrations, with the Colchester bench rushing on to the field to congratulate the players.

Colchester will be hoping that this win will kick start their season and they can pick up another good result at home to Pelicans next week. Hills Residential Man of the Match was Matt Brown for his two goal heroics and giving Colchester their first win of the season.