Minehead & West Somerset Hockey Club 5-1 Bristol and West Thirds

FOLLOWING a morale boosting victory last week against local rivals Bridgwater, Minehead 1st XI hosted Bristol and West 3s hoping to build on a positive start to 2023.

The clouds parted in the winter sky as the match began with Minehead on the front foot with good pressing play forcing the visitors to surrender possession on several occasions.

This early pressure eventually told as Daughtrey drove into to D before firing a flick towards goal, the opposition keeper parried only into the path of Hooper who tucked home the rebound.

As the first half went on, passing errors from both sides led to a frantic, end to end game.

As has become a common theme throughout the season, Bagg in the Minehead goal rescued his side on several occasions whilst Minehead wasted a number of good opportunities to extend their lead.

The second half began in a similar vein until Minehead eventually capitalised on another of their chances.

It was Daughtrey, again roaming from his defensive position, who fired a somewhat feeble flick towards the visitors’ goal.

Somehow the keeper was wrong-footed and the ball found its way into the net to give the hosts a two goal advantage.

It didn't take long for Minehead to find their third goal as Barker, who had up to this point resembled Bambi on ice squandering opportunities after tripping himself over and hitting the ball into his own foot, made no mistake this time in despatching the ball into the net following some magical play from Bolton providing the assist.

Bristol and West threatened to make the end of the game interesting as they got a goal back. Any hope for the visitors was soon quashed as a first class pass from Heale cut through the heart of the opposition defence finding Bennett alone in the D to flick calmly passed the keeper.

Bolton finished off the scoring late on, as Minehead took advantage of the visitors tiring legs. The game finished 5-1 to the hosts.

Minehead 2s made the long trip last week to play West Dorset, knowing they are second in the league, having only narrowly lost to top of the table Taunton Vale the previous week,

Dorset managed to get the win, 4-2 at full time, but Minehead were definitely the happier of the two teams as they completely outplayed their hosts for most of the second half.

There were many candidates this week for man of the match but this week’s deserved winner was Andrew Covey.