Whitchurch Men’s 1s 2 - Wilmslow Men’s 2s 2

Whitchurch played league leaders Wilmslow in a hard-fought match, and were able to come away with a good result against a team used to winning this season. With a couple of regular players away, Andy Magee returned in goal and brought with him a wealth of experience. Wilmslow are flying high in the league this year with only two draws and a loss to spoil their results before this game, so Whitchurch knew they were going to have a tough match on their hands.

The first half started well, with Whitchurch settling early, but Wilmslow were always ready on the break and piled the pressure on. The defence of Alex Fry, Ryan Murtagh and James Partington were called on time and again, and Magee in goal was able to help ensure marking and movement would prevent Wilmslow from getting in an early strike.

Dale Seymour had a good strong game on the left, moving through players with ease and Rob Chappell and Ben Fry put in their usual excellent games in the middle and on the right. Building on this allowed the Reds to pressure the Wilmslow defence on the counter-attack, which proved effective several times; Jack Barnes and Ben Kimberley were able to stretch the defence out wide and got a good pass through to the centre of the dee, where Martin Beecher was able to stretch past the defenders and put the ball through the keeper's legs for the first goal of the game.

Both sides were less than perfect with tackles and the umpires had to calm things down. Wilmslow were able to settle quicker and rebuild their flowing attacks and were able to put together an overload and nick a goal to level the scores, but going into half time at 1-1 was the result of some good work by both teams and the half-time talk was about playing Whitchurch's game to their strengths.

The second half was played in much better spirit and had some lovely flowing hockey, with Tom Leonard controlling the centre and setting up Barnes, Beecher and Kimberley to go on good runs. The best part of the half had Barnes go on a solo run from left to right across the dee, almost to the by-line, before unleashing a rocket on a tight angle that beat everyone. Wilmslow immediately redoubled their efforts; keen not to lose when the league was so nearly tied up for them, and put everything into their attack.

The Reds' defence was called on time and again, with Magee making a number of excellent saves, and Chappell, Seymour and Fry helping the backs out, but ultimately the pressure told with a goal in the dying minutes levelling things up. A disappointment for Whitchurch, but a fair result for the game and an excellent effort against a strong team.