ND Hockey 2nds in knife-edge encounter

In their 19th outing of the campaign, North Devon Men’s 2s hosted Exeter Men’s 2 in what would prove a steely an extremely hard-fought affair that, despite the home side’s best efforts, saw the visitors eek out a very narrow – and somewhat fortunate – win on the road.

The match began with the away side firmly in the ascendency, pouncing on some issues with North’s shape and set-up and moving forward intently to gain an early advantage over North’s defensive line.

This early pressure told when, after a brief melee at the edge of the D, an Exeter attacker managed to break free and slot home the opener past Nathan Mitchell in goal.

This early setback seemed to spur the hosts into action, giving them the impetus to rediscover their shape and begin weaving some intricate passing through the middle and out wide.

While Exeter remained fairly dominant in possession and posed a formidable threat going forward, spearheaded by some superb aerial passes, North fired back on the counter with determination and grit.

Buoyed by the heroics of Man of the Match Chris Broome in central midfield, the home side battled valiantly. Despite this improvement across the park, Exeter undeservedly doubled their lead midway through the half, latching onto a lost ball in the middle and driving home to make it 0-2.

Undeterred, North persevered at the same intensity and got their reward when Bradley Bellingham collected the ball inside the D and finished cooly on the reverse to halve the deficit just before the break.

Following some positive words at half time, highlighting the quality of the performance against their strong, high-placing opposition, North came out and took the match by the scruff of the neck, registering a plethora of chances moving forward.

Exeter, seemingly rattled and adopting a tighter shape at the back to keep the hosts out, fought on but were buffed by North’s energised back line. While North battled on, coming painstakingly close when a ball from Craig Carruthers on the left side of the D missed Bellingham by inches at the far post, Exeter remained admirably stalwart in their lead and withstood the pressure until the end.

In spite of a frankly unmerited loss, North will take huge positives from this match - characterised by enormous improvements all round – into the last three games of the season.

Elsewhere, North Devon Ladies’ 1s produced a poised and efficient performance against the well-drilled Isca Ladies’ 3s, registering a 2-0 win to remain within touching distance of the league leaders, Isca 2s.

While showing improvements going forward and vastly improved shape, North Devon Ladies’ 2s fell to defeat away to current third-place holders Tiverton White Eagles Ladies 1s.