Burnt Ash 2-5 Tunbridge Wells Men
By Brandon Begg
Strong early-season form for Tunbridge Wells Hockey Club Men’s first team was maintained in securing a 5-2 win away to Burnt Ash last Saturday.
Wells were in confident mood after starting their Kent & Sussex Division 1 campaign with an impressive 8-3 victory over Ashford.
However, things did not start well at the weekend, as Wells went 1-0 down in the first two minutes. But they came back quickly through a fine goal from Jack Garwood. He nicked another strike after good work from Coach Ben Allberry, and Wells regained the ascendancy.
Mathieson and Hare controlled the midfield with pace and strength, nullifying any Burnt Ash attacks, and the away team ended the first half 2-1 up.
The second period began much like the first – with Wells asleep, Ash pounced and levelled the scores after five minutes of the restart.
Wells’ discipline dissipated and with two players off the pitch with yellow cards, Burnt Ash then threw everything at the Wells defence.
However, with Harris in control between the sticks and Alastair Clarke, Dan Barnaby (pictured), James Barber and Mitch Hawksbee in excellent defensive form, Wells kept out four penalty corners and a penalty stroke.
The away team took advantage of Burnt Ash’s demoralised state and scored three unanswered goals – two from Allberry and one from Garwood to complete his hat-trick.
It was a good win against a team that would not give up. However, there is still a lot of work to be done on the training pitch in preparation for the first team’s trip to Worthing next week.
