S&S men return to winning ways

Shefford & Sandy Men's Is emphatically returned to winning ways against fellow promotion hopefuls Long Sutton on Saturday.
Hockey SUS-150618-153351001Hockey SUS-150618-153351001
Hockey SUS-150618-153351001

After a 6-5 victory in the corresponding East League Division One fixture earlier in the season, S&S knew they were likely to be in for a tough fight.

Long Sutton had the better of the earlier exchanges and took the lead after about 15 minutes, but this was just what S&S needed as it stung them into action.

S&S soon equalised, Alyn Meredith providing the finish. This was soon added to as a slick penalty corner led to Meredith collecting a second, S&S going into the break 2-1 up.

Whatever was said at half time must have been inspiring as S&S produced some of their finest hockey of the season to completely dominate the second half.

The workrate of the forwards, particularly Tom Pateman and Lewis Bridger defending from the front, was excellent and led to a number of ball steals.

Chris Fell, Pateman, Bridger, Danny Price and Liam Stevens all had chances to collect the third, but it was the penalty corners where S&S excelled in front of goal. A fantastic three player interchange led to goal number three being finished by the penalty corner injector Doug Dawson.

Goal number four was even slicker with an interplayed exchange involving Dawson, Fell, Stuart Robson and Meredith, which was finished well by youngster Stevens.

Long Sutton barely got a sniff and the only slight disappointment was that the lead was not extended further, the game ending 4-1. The side hope to take this form with them when they take the trip up to Norwich City this coming Saturday.

The IIs produced a very late equaliser to secure a 2-2 draw with Stevenage IIs in Division 5SW. Goals came from Jon Wheeler and Chris Reilly and Daz Hepburn was man of the match. They host Bishops Stortford IIIs on Saturday.

S&S IIIs continued their drive for promotion in Division 7SW with a 3-0 victory over Royston IIs. Goals came from Brett Woodhouse, Ryan Devlin and man of the match Peter Reed. They head to Stevenage IVs next.

Blueharts VIs maintained their 100% league record with a 9-1 demolition of S&S IVs. It was a plucky performance from S&S against a side that contained a handful of former National League players. S&S went one better than last time by scoring, Zach Christodoulou providing the goal. They are at home to Harpenden IVs on Saturday.