THERE was a clean sweep of victories for the Isle of Wight Hockey Club's men's and women's teams yesterday (Saturday).
ISLE OF WIGHT MEN I 2, ROMSEY I 1
THE Isle of Wight men came through a tough game against Romsey, who gave them a fright at the end.
Playing at Smallbrook, Isle of Wight set the tone early — pressing hard to win short corners, but the Romsey defence held out.
Reacting quickly from a free hit, Adam Payne had a free run into the D and his strike found the target to put the Island in front.
In the second period, Romsey’s attacks were thwarted each time by the Island defence of Elliot Cole, Ethan Edmunds-Lamb and Patrick Butt.
The Island doubled their lead after a well-worked attack down the left, which saw Lewis Heaven-Gandy pass to Payne in the D, who in turn found Finn Woodward on the P-spot to slot home.
In an end-to-end game, Romsey pulled one back from a short corner and it was game on, but good possession play saw the Island run down the clock to win it.
ISLE OF WIGHT LADIES I 3, BOURNEMOUTH II 2
IT WAS a similar story for the Island ladies' first team against a strong Bournemouth seconds side.
Defending from the front, Isle of Wight forced Bournemouth deep into their own half, with Lola Marfleet and Evie Fairhurst putting them under significant pressure.
Capitalising on a short corner, Bournemouth took a shock lead, but the Islanders responded well — Sarah Shaw drove into the circle and smashed the ball into the corner.
The Island started to attack down the wings to pile on more pressure — and were rewarded with Shaw completing her hat-trick before half-time.
Bournemouth changed tactics in the second half and, following a series of short corners, they scored a penalty to make it 3-2 and a tense remainder of the match for the Island — but held on, with Tia Shutler pulling off some great saves.
LAVANT I 5, ISLE OF WIGHT MEN’S II 6
THE men's seconds won an astonishing 11-goal thriller at Lavant.
Lavant took the lead, which kick-started the Islanders into action, with Stephen Woodford scoring twice to give them a half-time lead.
The second half momentum swung many times, but Thomas Young scored twice, Mike Dodds scored and set up the decisive sixth Isle of Wight goal for Woodford to complete his hat-trick.
PETERSFIELD II 0, ISLE OF WIGHT LADIES II 3
THE Island ladies' seconds dominated play from the off at Petersfield.
After some fantastic build up play in midfield, Evie Longson’s cross-cum-shot was thumped in by Lizzie Dodds — her first senior goal.
The second quickly followed — Amelia Wroath-Hickley’s pass into the D found Dee Sanchez-Brown on the goal-line to calmly tapped in.
Isle of Wight had to wait until late in the second half to add their third — Sanchez-Brown firing a shot in, which Sophie Parkhouse diverted home.
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