Whitchurch Men's 2nds 3

Oxton Men's 5ths 1

After last weekend's heavy defeat to the runaway league leaders the seconds welcomed second placed Oxton fifths to Whitchurch for the final fixture before the Christmas break.

Oxton had already inflicted a 5-0 defeat on the Reds earlier in the season and had won both of last season's fixtures by big score lines.

The opening exchanges took on a familiar pattern with Oxton's experience and power threatening to overwhelm the seconds in the first few minutes.

But Whitchurch quickly got themselves into the game and started to play some excellent hockey.

Whitchurch opened the scoring with a superb team goal, winning the ball in midfield, Richard Leigh fed a neat pass to Joe Coburn who in turn picked out Joe Faithfull's excellent run from right wing.

Coburn drove into the dee and squared the ball for Will Gilbert to fire home his first goal in senior hockey.

Whitchurch thoroughly deserved to score the second goal of the half, with the ball being fed into the dee from the right to Luke Beddow who followed in to drive the ball into the goal.

In the second-half Oxton came out hard and fast, but Whitchurch met the challenge head-on.

Oxton pulled a goal back 15 minutes into the second-half from a penalty flick and for a few moments looked to have seized the initiative.

But the Whitchurch wobble was brief and eventually Whitchurch extended their lead when a good break from Alex Leigh fed Luke Beddow, who slipped the ball under the advancing keeper.

Tempers frayed and Oxton were reduced to 10 men for a succession of green cards.

This hampered their efforts to get back into the game, although Whitchurch refused to give them any glimmers of hope and duly saw out the remaining minutes to register a well-deserved 3-1 victory.

Richard Leigh and Dave Brunyard prevented Oxton having any space in midfield and ably supported by Brendan Coburn and Wyn Morris at the back, meaning the Wirral side struggled to fashion any real shooting chances in open play.