Whitchurch mens 1s 5 Deeside Ramblers Mens 7s 1

In a weekend where all the ladies matches were cancelled due to the freezing weather the home pitch thawed enough for the afternoons men’s game to go ahead.

Whitchurch started their first match of the New Year believing they were going to have another easy game but Deeside opened the scoring within the first five minutes. This was the jolt that Whitchurch needed and they regrouped and increased the intensity of the game. This started with Joe Nicholson picking the ball up and driving down the left hand side through the Deeside defence and his shot bounced off the post. Minutes later a similar move saw Nicholson fire into the bottom corner to bring the scores level.

Whitchurch maintained their pressure with a number of penalty corners from which Joel Leese scored to take a 2-1 lead into the half time break.

Whitchurch started the second half with a much greater focus and created a comfort zone when Ben Lea fired a blistering shot into the Deeside goal. Deeside continued to attack on the break and throughout the game kept goalkeeper Paul ‘Sturge’ Leigh on his toes and forced one extraordinary goal line clearance from Ryan Murtagh to keep Deeside frustrated.

Whitchurch took full advantage to build on their lead as the Deeside team tired, Alex Fry drove into the opposition dee and his shot struck Martin Beechers stick and deflected past the keeper for their fourth. The fifth came from a goal mouth scramble as Ben Kimberley drove the baseline and pulled the ball back into the crowd of players where Joe Nicholson reacted quickest to tap the ball into the goal.

Whitchurch secured another well earned three points to keep their promotion chances on track but Deeside gave them one of their hardest games of the season.