League action returned to South Berkshires hockey teams after the two-week half term break.
The Men’s 1st team traveled to the deepest darkest Surrey with a first-ever trip to the newly promoted Haslemere.
The team news for this week was that Midfielder Alex Gray returned from his week one injury, but still out were forward Rob Badley, still injured from last season and Berks would be without both normal fullbacks Mark Burley and Connor Eatwell .
From the kick off Haslemere were on the front foot pushing South Berks back into their own half, in only the fourth minute a breakaway attack saw keeper Baines racing out in to an Haslemere forward on the edge of the D , the forward slipped the ball underneath Baines towards the goal , the ball was met by an Haslemere forward and defender Peter Swan on the goal line. The umpire spotting a foul by Swan blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot.. The Haslemere forward stepped forward and blasted the penalty down the middle of the goal to take an early lead.
![South Berks Mens Hockey Provide Exciting Play Against Haslemere Surrey 20](https://mywokingham.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SBHC-Mens-1st-v-Haslemere-November-2022-5-1024x768.jpg)
![South Berks Mens Hockey Provide Exciting Play Against Haslemere Surrey 21](https://mywokingham.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SBHC-Mens-1st-v-Haslemere-November-2022-26-1024x768.jpg)
For the next ten minutes South Berkshire continued to fail to connect more than two passes together giving the ball away and losing possession. On 14 minutes South Berks were punished again ,attacking down the right ,the Haslemere winger reached the by-line and pulled the ball back to on rushing forward who knocked the ball past defenders Brayshaw and Bennett to a forward on the goal line for an easy knock in, 2-0 after just 14 minutes.
Finally South Berks woke up and started to play some decent hockey .In the 17th minute South Berkshire won their first short corner of the game . With Sam Fox-Harvey injecting the ball to Tom King who fired the ball back to him advancing along the by-line, Fox -Harvey then quickly past the ball back to Alex Gray in the middle of the goal who coolly lifted the ball into the net ,2-1 .
South Berks now started going though the gears with Gray forcing the Haslemere keeper into a fine save and Jack Baveystock firing just over from just inside the D.
In the 23rd minute all the pressure finally paid off when Baveystock sliding a ball into the middle of the D saw Ravi Patel turning the ball into the net, 2-2.
![South Berks Mens Hockey Provide Exciting Play Against Haslemere Surrey 22](https://mywokingham.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SBHC-Mens-1st-v-Haslemere-November-2022-6-1024x768.jpg)
Haslemere now reeling from the two goals lost a man to a Green card foul on 31 minutes and were forced into defending hard to keep South Berks at bay . Just before half time Peter Swan stole the ball off an Haslemere defender and ran into the D and won a short corner after the Haslemere keeper blocked this cross from the by-line.
From the corner Fox-Harvey again took the hit to Tom King ,who’s shot from the top of the D ,bringing a save from the Haslemere keeper and gaining another short corner. Again Fox-Harvey taking the corner past the ball to King who after a 1-2 with Bayerstock, went to shoot only to be blocked by a defender. The ball found its way out to the left where Skipper Ollie Bruce recovered the ball and raced to the by-line and knocked the ball back to the centre of the goal area where Peter Swan picked up the ball and from the penalty spot shot the ball into the net for his first goal, 2-3 .
Half time Haslemere 2 – 3 South Berkshire
The second half began in much of the same way as the first ended ,with South Berkshire in control and looking to add a Fourth goal at any moment. On 44 minutes they found it ,Paul Kaplanski picking the ball up and running across the D with the ball ,slipped it to Patel whose shot rebounded off the keeper to Alex Sykes who turned his marking defender to fire the ball across a crowed area were Fox-Harvey was waiting to tap the ball in ,2-4 .
Haslemere got another Green card a minute later , but the game changed for the worst for Berks on 51 minutes with South Berkshires Zak Brayshaw getting a harsh Yellow card for a foul and also a penalty corner being awarded to Haslemere .
From the corner the Haslemere striker rifled the ball into the South Berks net, 3-4 . Haslemere were now very much in control of the game with another short corner bravely knocked away by Tom King on the post .
On the hour Haslemere scored again from a corner, when the first shot hit Brayshaw only for the ball to fall nicely to a Haslemere player who put the ball into the net ,4-4. Almost straight from the kick off the wheels came off the South Berks bus as Haslemere scored again after a shot from just inside the D was forced home 5-4.
A rare attack from South Berks ,saw the Haslemere keeper pull of a fine save from Paul Kaplanski ,but this was now Haslemere’s game as on 67 minutes an attack down the right saw the ball pulled back from the by-line to an Haslemere player who turned Swan and beat Baines low down to his left, 6-4.
The last 5 minutes were played out in the rain with another corner from Haslemere saved by Baines and with South Berks attacking with now some purpose, but it was too little too late and Haslemere running out the winners 6-4 .
South Berks Men’s 2nd team lost away at Abingdon 4-2 , Sam Coombes and Des Saunders with the goals.
Men’s 3rd won a 5-goal thriller 3-2 at home to Henley, Mike Longson, Isaac Hodgson and Tom Pullen hitting the net
Men’s 4th carried on their winning ways with a 7-2 away win at Eastcote ,Duncan Clarke with three and Tom Scott with four
Men’s 5th had the result of the day winning at home to Wallingford 7-0, Patrick Diplock with three and Tom Ellwood, Greg Bertellio ,Luke Barnard and Chris Davison all with one each
Men’s 6th lost 1-0 away at Staines
The Vets lost by the odd goal in 5 ,2-3 at home to Oxford
In the Ladies section,
The Ladies 1st had a great 5-2 home win against Aylesbury , Edie Harrison with two, Sarah Kelly, Ella Martin and Lola Theodoulou scoring.
Ladies 2nd won 2-0 at Bicester ,Alison Eatwell and Emily Powell getting the goals
Ladies 3rd lost at Home to Banbury ,Hannah Sayers with the goal.
Ladies 4th lost away 2-1 at Windsor , Charlotte Lalonde on the score sheet
Ladies 5th lost at home to Yateley 2-1 Mairi Chisholm with the goal
This weeks fixtures at Cantley Park are
Ladies 4th v Sonning @ 1030
Men’s 2nd v Henley @ 1200
Men’s 1st v Eastcote @ 1330
Ladies 2nd v Henley @ 1400
Men’s 6th v Phoenix @ 1630
At Birch Hill
Men’s 4th v Wallingford @ 1430
Men’s 3rd travel to Sonning
Men’s 5th away at Slough
Vets away at Epsom
Ladies 1st go to Wallingford
Ladies 3rd away at Oxford Uni
Ladies 5th away at Wycombe
#southberkshirehockey