Deserved defeat for third team

RUNCORN 3RDS 1 WHITCHURCH 2NDS 2 RUNCORN’S inconsistency continued on Saturday with another disappointing performance.

These two teams are usually evenly matched and both fielded a similar mixture of experience and youth.

The first 15 minutes saw an even contest with both sides playing some nice hockey.

Runcorn pressed forward and were rewarded with a neat goal from Robert Mault.

But that was to be the only highlight of the game as Runcorn sank back into poor ball retention and weak tackling.

It was only a matter of time before Whitchurch scored a deserved equaliser.

The half-time break gave the home side a chance to step up their efforts, but the second half showed no sign of improvement.

Whitchurch dominated territory and possession and were unlucky not to score several times.

When Runcorn did get into the danger area, poor finishing and a misfiring penalty corner routine let them down.

With only a few minutes remaining, the visitors hit the bar and it looked like Runcorn were going to escape with a draw – but the winning goal soon arrived.

As in the previous week, no-one in the Runcorn side can be happy with their performance and this weekend’s derby at Lymm needs to see a big improvement.