Hockey: Marlborough’s very mixed fortunes at Bath and Truro

Marlborough vs Bath Buccs C            Game drawn 4-4

With a win desperately needed and confidence in a positive result building, Marlborough made the short trip to the Bath university grounds with hopes high.  The game started fantastically well for Marlborough with some excellent passing and movement off the ball highlighting their opponents weaknesses.   

Marlborough’s dominance was soon rewarded when they opened the scoring through striker Matt Osborne after a deft move down the right hand side of the pitch.  Soon the lead was doubled when Dave Webster thundered home a first time strike from the top left edge of the D.  

Full of confidence, Marlborough pressed on and soon found themselves in full control of the game after a third goal, courtesy of a Chris Jones drag flick. This gave Marlborough a handsome 3-0 lead at half time.

The second half began with a change of tactics for the home side as they pressed Marlborough higher up the pitch and put more men in attack and midfield.  After sustaining some pressure Marlborough broke away for their fourth goal of the day after John Bromley’s sublime reverse stick placement shot deceived several defenders and the on-rushing goalkeeper.  

With the score line at 4-0 Marlborough knew they had a great opportunity to secure a vital three points, but Buccs were not going to let the game go so easily.

Their deficit was soon cut after a crash ball deflection and was then reduced further after Marlborough had a player sin-binned and a penalty flick awarded to Buccs after a clear foul during a goal scoring opportunity.  

The game back to 4-2 and with a man extra Buccs pushed further forward and soon found themselves even closer after some disappointing defensive work from Marlborough took the score to 4-3.

Marlborough’s attempts to hold on to the game slipped further as they were reduced to nine men after a contentious off the ball incident.  Buccs pressure told as they scored from a short corner routine with the last play of the game to leave the final result and incredible 4-4.  

Despite the disappointment Marlborough knew they had no time to feel sorry for themselves as a long trip to Truro awaited the team the following day.

Marlborough vs Truro                 Marlborough lose 7-2  

With the end of season run approaching, Marlborough made the long trip down to Truro knowing that they simply had to pick up points in order to keep their spirits high.   

The game started brightly with Marlborough in the ascendancy and controlling play before an unforced turnover allowed Truro to open the scoring with their trademark efficiency in front of goal.  

Marlborough soon created some chances of their own and would have levelled the scoring if not for some last ditch defending and assertive goalkeeping.

Truro doubled their lead with another break away goal, but were pegged back after an excellent first time flick shot from Matt Osborne.  Truro ended the first half scoring from a short corner routine to make the score 3-1 at the break.

The second half began with Truro taking a more dominant position in the game and their killer instinct showed with another goal very early in the second half after catching Marlborough in possession.   Marlborough pulled one back when Anil Sud scored from a short corner breakdown to give the visitors some hope.  

This was short lived however as Truro dominated the final parts of the game scoring three more times to leave the result beyond any doubt at 7-2 to the home side.