Penarth Sport
Hockey: High-flying Penarth finally break down Chippenham
8:00am Thursday 2nd February 2012
PENARTH 3 CHIPPENHAM 2
AFTER A series of hard fought contests and three consecutive draws, Penarth faced Chippenham in a clash of teams currently at either end of the table.
Following their joint promotion from North Division 2 last season, the teams are enjoying different fortunes this term with Penarth coming into the game as joint leaders and Chippenham battling near the foot of the table.
Penarth’s starting line-up remained unchanged from the previous week with Sam Docherty remaining on the sidelines with a potentially broken thumb and David Tipping away for the remainder of the season.
The game started in excellent weather conditions, treating the larger than average crowd in attendance to some warm and highly un-Barry-in-January-like temperatures.
Both teams battled for possession in the early stages and despite the fact that Penarth carved out the better chances, the game was finely balanced for large parts of the half.
Tom Haran and Rob Williams again looked dominant at the heart of defence and with Simon Hebson and Richard Baker tucking in on either side of midfield, the full backs David Stevens and Peter Acton were able to get themselves into plenty of space.
The two incidents of note in the half both involved forward Rhys Evans. The first resulted in him having to leave the field with a cut to his head following a collision with an opponent’s stick, and the second forced a Chippenham player to leave the field with a large egg forming on his cheekbone following a collision with Evans’ stick.
The teams went into the interval still trying to keep the other on the back foot and with the score at 0-0.
Penarth were beginning to show the signs of frustration that come from a team that know they should be ahead, but Chippenham too must have felt that they could have done better with some of their chances and perhaps could have been ahead too but for fine play by Mark Harris, looking sharper and sharper as the weeks go by.
The second half started in much the same manner as the first. Penarth tried to regain their composure and went back to playing the ball around the pitch in an effort to maintain their shape and work some openings in the tough Chippenham defence.
It was the away team who made the first breakthrough however, Penarth giving the ball away in their own half before some neat play on the right led to a ball into the Penarth D and a finish past Mark Harris. 1-0 to Chippenham.
The goal was the incentive Penarth needed to up the tempo. With riches of forwards to call on, the front two was a platoon of Rhys Evans, Phil Lane, Owen Hopkins and Phil Langham.
With two on the pitch at any one time they started making inroads, fed invariably by Chris Baker orchestrating proceedings from midfield and ably supported by the tenacious Mark Thomas.
It was Owen Hopkins who finally got Penarth back on level terms, Simon Hebson doing the damage on the left for Penarth and crossing for Owen to deflect past the helpless keeper. The goal may have been fortunate in its delivery but Penarth certainly deserved to be on level terms.
The home side continued to press as the game looked as though it may be heading to a stalemate. The turning point came when Penarth won a sideline ball just inside the Chippenham 25 yard line.
As the away defence began to regroup, Chris Baker took a quick hit and ran with the ball across into the D, smashing it into the bottom corner to give Penarth a 2-1 lead. Phil Lane added a third and with ten minutes remaining, Penarth were 3-1 to the good.
The game ended with little further incident, other than two Penarth green cards; one for Haran after a disagreement with an umpire and the other for Phil Lane, for what can best be described as a ‘forward’s challenge’ on a defender.
Chippenham notched a consolation goal with the last touch of the game leaving the final score 3-2 to Penarth.
Tom Haran was awarded man-of-the-match over sausage and chips at the Star, Dinas Powys, for a performance that limited what Chippenham could do with the ball. His partnership with Rob Williams at the heart of the Penarth defence looking increasingly dominant.
Elsewhere in North Division 1, defeat for Swansea University and a home draw for Whitchurch mean that Penarth climb to the top of the table, and travel to Bridgend on Saturday hoping to extend their lead.
The Second team were not in action this week, and travel to Rougemont School on Saturday for a friendly against Gwent before restarting league action against UW St. Davids on February 11.