St Ives 0 Colchester 1

NE14Hockey East Men's League

Division 1N

St Ives 0 Colchester 1

COLCHESTER dug deep in a close encounter to win 1-0 away to St Ives on Saturday.

With the end of the season fast approaching, the nerves were showing in a Colchester side desperate to remain top of the league as they have been all season. A strong start helped settle the nerves and some good forward play put the St Ives players under pressure and limited their possession in the opening 10 minutes.

The home side were keen to play the ball around the back, but a wayward pass was intercepted early on by Kirsty Barber who confidently dribbled around the keeper and slotted in on the reverse to give Colchester a fortuitous 1-0 lead. St Ives worked themselves back into the game towards the end of the half, but Colchester's defence stood firm and the score remained 1-0 going into half time.

The second half remained closely fought with the majority of possession in the midfield. With Colchester finding it difficult to switch the ball around they were forced to drive down the flanks and hope to pick out the forwards when gaps opened up. St Ives remained dangerous on the break without creating any clear cut chances.

The visitor's had a string on penalty corners that they failed to take advantage of but looked likely to take the three points with 10 minutes remaining. A final flourish by St Ives had Colchester up against it and with a penalty corner awarded to the home side as the final whistle blew Colchester managed to clear their lines and claim the all important points to keep them top of the league with four games remaining.