HOCKEY: Horncastle firsts record first win of the season

A long journey to St Ives to play the newly relegated St Ives 1st XI looked like a tough match for the new look Horncastle 1st XI.

Both teams lined up with very attacking 4-3-3 formations. As soon as the whistle blew, Horncastle went about a very possession-based game which kept them in a dominant position throughout. After some great interplay between the midfield and forwards, a short corner was won and the following drag flick was scored by new player Nick Bennett.

St Ives looked stunned but this wasn’t going to be the only goal of the first half for Horncastle. Great play down the right side meant a great through ball was played in by Sam Bradley to striker Cameron Foster who was pushed in the back by a defender and a penalty flick was given, once again dispatched by Bennett.

St Ives replied after a good cross and a neat deflection.

One final incident in the first half as saw Bennett fire a monster aerial through to Foster, but he was in a collision with the keeper who made no attempt to get the ball.

Horncastle kept up the same possession game in the second half with centre backs spraying the ball around the pitch with ease. And they were not done scoring as some neat interplay between the left side gave Foster the chance to score a goal with the help of a St Ives defender’s stick.

Horncastle looked to be in complete control of the game until St Ives scored from close range following a neat passage of play.

The home side put pressure on the Horncastle back line for the final 10 minutes, but they remained resilient.

The overall performance of Horncastle was great and they played great hockey through a simple passing game. New captain Rob Scott was very happy with his side’s first win of the new season.

A special mention to Dave Seymour who very bravely stepped in as keeper for the day and performed admirably, making a number of very impressive saves for a first time goalie.

Man of the match was Dick Bee.