MINEHEAD Hockey Club Men's first team faced local rivals Bridgwater and were involved in a seven-goal thriller.

After ten minutes some sloppy defending cost Minehead and Bridgwater pulled ahead. They quickly doubled their lead owing to some lapses in concentration. Midway through the first half Jos Bennett scored a brilliant deflection to bring Minehead back into contention.

An overly physical challenge and a choice selection of words for an umpire saw a Bridgwater player sit out the last 20 minutes of the first half with a yellow card, yet Minehead struggled to capitalise and the half time scores remained 2-1 to the visitors.

The second half started similarly, but Bridgwater's long balls paid off and they found the backboard once again, before Joe Notaro-Livingstone brought Minehead back into touching distance with an excellent penalty stroke.

Bridgwater then scored again from a misfired short corner that dribbled into the back of the net. Mark Bolton reduced the deficit with a stunning half volley into the bottom corner. The last five minutes saw Minehead fighting to draw level, and a green card for the opposition was a glimpse of salvation. A poor challenge from Minehead's captain saw him sidelined for the remaining minutes and the gap was never closed.

Minehead Men’s 2nd team travelled up to Bristol to play Old Bristolians 5ths. The opening minutes of the game were a wake up a call as Minehead struggled retain possession, conceding a goal within the first five minutes. Minehead needed to score quickly to settle into the game; fortunately they managed to put pressure on OB, with a few short and sharp passes finding Lawrence Taylor at the goal line to make an impressive flick over the keeper to level the scores.

Minehead were starting to pressure OB, though it was still not clear which way the game would go. They were helped by a Joe Bolton pass in the D that deflected in for a goal, putting Minehead 2-1 up at the break.

During the second half, play continued at either end with a few of short corners for either side but no goals prevailing. Some great defending by PJ, running at pace to stop a striker entering the D, to then slide along the floor, stick out to sweep away an impending shot at goal kept Minehead in the game.

After 30 goalless minutes Morris Borrough came to rescue running through their defence line to face a one on one with the goal keeper – calmly calmly slotting home to make it 3-1. As fatigue kicked in, Mineheadwe managed to hold off the pressure from OBs and secure the win.

Minehead 3s travelled to Cullompton to face Culm Valley 3s with a squad of just the bare eleven. On arrival they realised they would be facing a youthful team with plenty of substitutes and it was going to be a tough match. Minehead worked well as a team and held possession as much as possible, but Culm Valley clearly had the advantage and finished the first half with 5 goals and Minehead failed to score.

Heads were down at the opening of the second half but Minehead really pushed through the second half as a teamand only conceded a single goal in the second half to end in a 6-0 loss. It an enjoyable match with some positive points to build on.