| Match Report |
A rejuvenated Okehampton A hosted high flying Tavistock for the local derby game on this summer like Saturday. Both sides were willing to move the ball quickly and play attacking hockey with both dominating periods of play. However, it was Tavistock who broke the deadlock after about 20 minutes when they converted from their first penalty corner. Oke came back strongly and created their own chances but we're unable to convert. Tavistock continued to play the confident hockey their top of the table position determined and it was from a break down the right that their second came after a goal line scramble. A switch of James Stevens to the right and Rob Yells to the left started Okehampton's best period of play in the first half. A couple of surging runs from the ever improving James Stevens resulted in further unconverted chances although one did bring about the home team's first penalty corner which was cooly guided in by Jake Lloyd from a precision pass from Chris Luxton. With the end of the first half approaching an interception from an Oke 16 put the defence under pressure and a slick reverse stick pass found its way to the Tavistock striker for a tap in 3rd. Ole regrouped at the start of the second half and consistently threatened the Tavistock goal but couldn't convert the pressure into goals even with a couple of well won penalty corners. By mid-way through the second half the temperature and tempo started to tell and Tavistock's well drilled, table topping team began to demonstrate why they are riding high as their young forwards won and converted a couple more penalty corners to make the final score 5-1. Oke fielded two young debutants in 15 year olds Ben Bolt and Ben Bowles alongside fellow youth players James Stevens, Ben Yelland and Matt Westlake. This bodes well for the future with an equal number of today's team the wrong side of 40, including Man of the Match, Neil Rowlands.
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