SADLY, Minehead & West Somerset Hockey Club’s men’s 1s travelled to Yeovil only to find a pitch without opponents, as they had decided the pitch was waterlogged and unplayable, which clearly was not the case.

The club’s 2s also fell foul of a South Gloucester side unable to muster a team to make their journey to Minehead .

Minehead Men’s 3s did manage to play Chard 3s at home. Chard fielded a youthful side which Minehead took early advantage of by pushing hard into the opposition half. Really good open play by Minehead saw them holding possession and keeping the pressure on their young opponents.

A goal finally came from Richard Darlington and kept the Minehead spirits up. A second from Max Reed, in the same style as the previous week, hitting the top of the net and making the Chard keeper scratch his head in bewilderment.

However Chard pushed back and scored a well deserved goal, shortly followed by another from Darlington to make 3-1 at half time.

The second half saw Minehead tire and become somewhat scrappy, a run of yellow and green cards for both sides and an outfield goal by Chard made Minehead slow the pace down and play more defensively for the rest of the match. However, it was a well deserved 3-2 win for the home side as they held on to their early first-half goals.

University of Exeter 5 v Minehead Ladies: Minehead made the second trek of the year to Exeter University, choosing the hilly option to avoid the floods, while summoning encouragement to face the top of the division students’ team who were young, fit and well drilled.

Minehead started well with strong confident passing and a good attempt on goal by Cape which was just wide. Exeter then came back with slick passing and a strong weaving run and a power shot from just inside the D which was dealt with by the quick reaction of Weetch.

Exeter then piled on the pressure and despite some more super saves from Weetch and spirited tackles from the defence and midfield at half time the score was 4-0 to the lively students.

Again Minehead started the second half strong with some good runs and shots on goal. As Minehead were in Devon the weather did not disappoint and down came the rain. Minehead started to get some good runs of play which resulted in a short corner which again was narrowly wide.

Exeter did not like the Minehead resurgence and mocked some aspects of the Minehead game and showed their immaturity and lack of class. For the next 10 minutes the ball barely left the Minehead 25: short corner after short corner which Minehead defended with courage and determination.

Exeter were lucky with a couple of balls that trickled over the line and a couple power shots, with the final score being 9-0. As the Minehad captain and coach had requested they managed to keep the score to single figures.

The Minehead player of the match was Amy Tisshaw, as always for her relentless tackling, control and passing in midfield.

This coming Saturday, February 7, sees three home games for the Minehad club as the Ladies host Honiton, the 2s host Yeovil (hopefully) and the 3s entertain Weston super Mare.