Hot off the heels of last week’s masterful “shellacking” of Bridgewater, Chard took to the home field against Sidmouth and Ottery.
Chard started strong, but soon found themselves a goal down, due to a counter-attack that seemed to find us napping.
But Chard tightened the marking and piled on the pressure in midfield. This provided the momentum to launch many attacks into the opposition’s D and eventually resulted in a well-executed goal by Ian.

At half-time, with the scores level, we restructured to a 4-man midfield and discussed better strategies for tackling and defensive play.
Most of the second half was played in the opposition’s half, with many assaults into the D. While we did not make the most of every opportunity, numerous shots were hammered towards goal…some going wide and some blocked by the keeper. But eventually our persistence began to pay off, with two more goals from well-polished strikes from Rupert and Ben S.

It was a solid team performance, but perhaps not our greatest, in what was arguably a bit of a scrappy game. A well-deserved
win, nonetheless.
Man of the match was Ian, whose many long passes were pivotal in the attacks. Honourable mentions to Isaac, whose dribbling runs caused their defence all kinds of problems… and Dan, whose tight marking and persistent tackling left the opposition attackers floundering. We also welcomed Rupert back onto the hockey pitch after a 25-year hiatus, as if time had stood still.
As always, a big thank you to the umpires.

Final score: 3-1 victory for Chard.