North Devon trounce Truro to take three points

North Devon Hockey Men’s 1sts hosted Truro Men’s 2nds in Barnstaple, with both teams in need of three points and aiming to climb the league table.

Despite a plethora of players out due to injury, following a lengthy pre-game team talk and motivated warm-up, North were ready. Or so they thought.

Within minutes, an early Truro strike from outside the D caught a defender’s foot, giving them a short corner and early opportunity to score. While Truro failed to pounce, North were thankful for the wake-up call.

Man of the match Andrew Buller spearheaded North’s defensive line, blocking Truro through the middle with strong tackling and distribution. Frustrated, Truro began to make mistakes.

Following a foul on the edge of Truro’s D, some quick thinking found Buller in space, where he slid a pass across goal to find Ash Thorne, whose deflection gave North the opener.

The lead was to be short-lived, however, as Truro launched a fine aerial pass into North’s D, landing at their frontman, who dribbled past the ‘keeper to slot home the leveller.

This lit a fire under North and they responded with four more goals before the break: a forehand drill by Peter Smale to make it 2-1; a third dispatched by Josh Thorne following a scrappy melee in the D; and a fourth and fifth converted with aplomb by Joe Taylor Richards.

Despite some injury woe, North dominated the first half to the end. Some fine tackling, skill and ball handling by Finley Cumiskey, defensive and offensive support from Ash Thorne, pestering by Dominic Cork and blistering speed from Taylor Richards saw North go into the break 5-1 up.

Despite a positive half-time talk, some confusion in North’s lineup caused a lack of cohesion that unsettled the hosts slightly, which the visitors would try to exploit.

The spirited and skilful Truro forwards put constant pressure on North’s defensive line and, despite some bravura tackles and closing-down, Truro were able to pounce with two avoidable goals in quick succession.

Fortunately for North, a late second-half break saw Smale tackled clumsily by one of Truro’s defenders in the centre of their D, giving North a penalty flick, which Guy Cockcroft drove home down the middle to put North out of sight.

Elsewhere, despite hard-fought battles against seasoned opposition, the Men’s 2nds, Ladies’ 1sts and Ladies’ 2nds lost 2-1, 0-2 and 6-1 respectively.