New Bs Get Beaten

Saturday brought about the hottest October day on record and the entrance of a men’s third team from Wootton Bassett into league hockey for the first time ever.

Unfortunately, for the men (with a variety of experience) led by Robin Cook, their opponents, City of Bath C, had not read the script and, despite valiant efforts by all of those in blue, won the game 5-0.

The game began at a pace which rivalled the heat for its intensity and it was not long before the pressure exerted by the Bath attack brought about their first goal. This came, as did two others later in the game, from a short corner. From here on the Bassett defence had to muster all of its experience to ‘fire-fight’ the relentless and direct onslaught by the Bath forwards. Thus, whilst the second goal for the home side came as no surprise, Bassett had to work hard to avoid too much of a mountain to climb prior to the half time break. Indeed, with the entrance of man-of-the-match Ben Henshaw, the game did not seem totally out of Bassett’s reach.

However, their best efforts, and determination were to prove to be insufficient on this first outing in league hockey. As the game wore on and the confidence of the Bath players increased, further goals were fairly inevitable. Despite the hard work of Rob Pamphilon, and numerous forays into the opposition’s ‘D’, the number of short corners and sharp shooting ensured that the addition of 3 goals in the second half was no less than City of Bath deserved.