Tough experience for firsts in loss at Oxton
OXTON III ................................................... 6 RUNCORN I ................................................ 0
AFTER a strong opening win the previous week, Runcorn Hockey Club’s men’s first-team took to the road to play Oxton.
Despite missing eight players from their regular squad, the visitors felt in confident mood and it showed as they made a better start compared to the week before.
With a step up in league Runcorn were struggling to react quick enough to get their defensive set up and been caught high up the pitch, which allowed Oxton to apply pressure on the Cheshire side.
With both teams showing determination in their play, no clear goalscoring chances arrived for either side.
When Runcorn managed to create an opening they either took that extra touch or waited for that split second which allowed Oxton to superbly defend their goal.
At the other end of the field, Oxton looked more threating on the break or with their penalty corner routines.
When the opening goal arrived, it was the hosts who struck with a penalty cor- ner, after slipping the ball to the right from the top of the penalty circle goalkeeper Roger Watt saved the initial shot. But Oxton reacted the quickest to collect the rebound and fire the shot home from a tight angle.
The talk at half-time in the visitors’ dressing room focused on Runcorn having to improve on the play within the penalty circle.
In the opening exchanges of the second period, Runcorn forward Ruan Pretorius collected the ball with his back to goal. He fired off first time on the reserve but the ball struck an upright and rebounded away to safety.
If anything, though, this near-miss for Runcorn only inspired Oxton and in a five-minute period they took total control of proceedings.
From a simple clearance down the middle, centre-back Andy Partridge tried to intercept the ball but was easily rolled away by Oxton’s centre-forward who had a clear run on goal and duly scored to double their lead.
Shortly after the ball was in the Runcorn goal again after a big slice of luck.
After a powerful strike from the top of the penalty circle, Roger Watt got a strong hand on the ball. But as the ball dropped it stuck in his leg guard and as he turned to find the ball, it rolled out and over the goalline.
Minutes later Oxton scored again when holding midfielder Allan Watt tried to dribble his way out of danger and was easily tackled and gave the home side an easy finish.
As much as Runcorn tried, the harder it became for them as Joe Cooper and Chris Maher looked to make a mark on the game.
But Oxton increased their lead with another fortunate moment. The ball was passed into the penalty circle and a number of Runcorn players called to goalkeeper Roger Watt to let the ball run out of play. Unfortunately for Runcorn, the ball struck a post and came back into play where an Oxton player gambled on the rebound and easily scored.
With frustration growing, an off the ball incident stopped play when an Oxton midfielder was sin-binned along with Runcorn midfielder Scott Crimes.
As Crimes questioned the reason he was sin-binned, his length of time off the pitch was increased with a yellow card for dissent.
As the final whistle went Oxton gained an overtime penalty corner. When Cooper tried to charge the ball down, it hit his foot and deflected into the goal which pretty much summed up the second half for Runcorn.
After such a tough experience all Runcorn players gave their all especially Andy Pickering, Chris Maher, Corey Kinsella and player-of-the-match David Yardley, who all stepped up and did not look out of place.
This Saturday Runcorn will be looking for a positive reaction as they welcome Winnington Park to The Heath School. ●