North Devon Hockey Club hit Ashmoor for five in decisive home victory

Smarting from two heavy defeats in the weeks prior, North Devon Hockey Club Men’s 2s met at Park School in search of goals, grandeur and glory against visiting adversaries, Ashmoor 3s.

Though a more complicated affair than the end result might seem to suggest on paper, their reward was rich indeed.

Despite bellowing support from the sidelines and rousing pre-match words from captain Ethan Jones, North began the match on the back foot, losing the ball and making way for the youth-stacked away side to conjure up a series of threatening early attacks.

Thankfully, the ever-reliable Ash Sansone in goal stood strong and undaunted, swatting every shot away with cool composure. While the visitors pressed with purpose, the hosts would ultimately take the lead when a sweeping ball through the D met Scott Paddon in front of goal, whose deft deflection brought the opener.

Though hardly firing on all cylinders, North upped their movement down the flanks in search of more. And more was to come: some fine movement through the middle of the park culminated in another fine ball across the D, dispatched cooly by Matt Upward to double North’s lead.

Just before the break, the hosts added a third through a clever reverse flick from MOTM Richard Locke to cap a first half whose scoreline hardly told the whole story.

The second half proved a much stronger display, in which the home side dominated possession and left little in the way of opportunity for Ashmoor to seize. Showing more disciplined structure across the park and working effectively as a unit, North quelled their opponents’ spirited attempts to wrangle a foothold in the match.

As their confidence grew, the home team’s players hemmed Ashmoor back further, clearly threatening to add to their tally. Before long, North pounced on an increasingly sluggish Ashmoor defence when the ball fell to full-back Freddie Lee at the top of the D, who swept a glorious strike into the bottom corner to score his first goal for the club. Five minutes later, Craig Carruthers snagged North’s fifth and final goal to put the contest to bed.

Elsewhere, the Men’s 1s secured a big 2-3 away win against Duchy Men’s 1s, the Ladies’ 1s beat Sidmouth & Ottery 2s 4-0 at home, and the Ladies’ 2s lost narrowly on the road to Taunton Vale 4s by 3 goals to 2.