Team BC Men’s Elite Hockey suffered defeat in the first round of the cup at home to Richard Huish, in a game which finished 5-1 to the Away side.

The home side had the luxury of a near full squad for this match, with Ollie Price making his debut for Team BC. The game was very open from the start as many would expect in a cup tie, with both sides looking to assert their dominance. It would be Huish to open the scoring through a powerful strike from the top of the D, with Bayley Chatwin beaten for the first time from open play this season.

The visitors scored their second when an attack down the right saw a miss hit cross wrong foot the Team BC defence for the Huish striker to convert an easy chance. Team BC then had the chance to get back into the game after a string of short corner opportunities were not capitalised on during the first half and looked promising in attack but lacked that final play in Huish’s 25.

With the score 2 – 0 at half time, Team BC knew that if they could get the next goal they would have the momentum and came out fighting in the second half, as all the possession was held with Team BC for the first 10 minutes from the restart. Whilst pushing to score the next goal, Team BC were left open at the back as Huish counter attacked, BC were indebted to Levi Hembrow in defence who made crucial tackles, as Bayley Chatwin was forced to make a number of crucial saves with some impressive keeping.

The pressure finally took its toll and Huish picked up another three goals, but Team BC kept battling and picked up a late consolation goal, with Sam Beasley tucking the ball away in to the far post.

Team BC Coach Rob Morrish said,

“The score line does not reflect how we played in the match. Whilst the players were not at their best individually or as a team, they were competitive for large parts of the game. Where we have been usually defensively tight this season, there were uncharacteristic gaps which cost us. Again we need to work on our play in the final third, but we have learnt a lot about ourselves and our opposition today. We have three weeks now to dust ourselves off and prepare for the regionals, where if we can work hard in training to improve on these areas, we can produce some improved performances.”