CHARD made shaky start against ECV Hornets B in South East 1 of the Davis Wood league but eventually won 6-1.

ECV enjoyed the majority of the possession for the first ten minutes before Chard's nerves were settled when a good ball from Liam Murphy found Matt Sheahan who turned his marker and found the far corner on the reverse.

Chard improved once their noses were in front and began to dominate the game.

Their next goal came from Ed Ireland-Jones who dispossessed a defender in his own 25, took the ball past another and firing a surprise early shot straight into the bottom corner.

ECV were awarded a penalty corner towards the end of half but Richard Green kept them at bay with a fine save.

Going to into the second period Chard knew they had to increase their lead to make the game safe.

The first goal of the half went to Fraser Lewis with a great dribble into the D and a fine finish leaving the keeper no chance.

Next to add to the score sheet was Sheahan. Picking up a good ball in from Justin Green, he swept the ball over the advancing keeper into the roof of the net.

ECV managed to pull a goal back with a counter attacking move against the run of play.

Chard’s next goal came from Bertie Squire, Murphy fired a powerful ball into the D and Squire got the perfect touch to send it past the keeper.

The final score came from a Chard penalty corner. Gary Wheaton pushed out to Sheahan who stopped it and then calmly fired into the bottom corner for his hat-trick.

Chard used their passing game well to control the game, moving the ball calmly round the back three of Simon Green, Max Beale and the rolling-sub pair of Danny Grabham and Toby Squire. Doing this they were able to switch the play to either wing with relative ease, creating time and space for wingers Sheahan and Wheaton.

Davis Wood league, South East 2 Taunton Vale D 3, Chard A 3 The main talking points following this well fought and largely enjoyable match were two incidents in the second half.

With the scores deadlocked at two each, promising young defender Matty Edwards received a sickening blow to the face after a wild swing and miss from a Vale forward.

Edwards was taken to hospital and had five stitches. The forward escaped without punishment despite the recklessness of his action.

The reshuffle ultimately affected Chard defensively, but they still took the lead following a defence-splitting pass from Eggle that was excellently converted by James Spurdle.

Minutes later came the second contentious incident. Dan Stone bustled his way into the penalty area, and his fierce shot appeared to be heading into the corner of the goal until it hit a defender and was diverted into the other corner.

Inexplicably the umpire disallowed the ‘goal’ and instead awarded a corner, to the bemusement of most of the players and the other umpire.

This would have given Chard a match-winning 4-2 scoreline but as it was a late rally from the home side earned them a point.

In the first half Spurdle’s first goal had cancelled out an early Vale strike before Stone’s thunderbolt gave the visitors the lead.

The mesmerising runs of Adam Veitch, and the skilful wing play of Harry Felgate caused problems all afternoon to an experienced Taunton team who performed better than their league position might suggest.

Davis Wood league, South East 2 Chard B 7, East Devon D 0 Chard recorded their third straight clean sheet and beat the struggling East Devon to secure their second league championship in four years.

The scoreline flattered Chard a little as they found it hard to break down the visitors’ defence in a first half which saw the only goal come from James Float.

Despite some further half-chances they did not really capitalise on the greater possession they had through the half.

The second half started in much the same way but a superb four goals from Andy Swain kept the score-line ticking in the right direction and with further goals coming from Toby Cooper and Duncan Lewis the final result was never in doubt.

Good individual performances were seen, particularly from Tom Float on debut.

His tireless running creating some good opportunities for others in the team.

Chard have one last fixture against Ashmoor in two weeks time.

Chard: Johnson, Dare, Mooney, Liggins, Parkinson, Float (J), Cooper (D), Swain, Cooper (T), Cr itchley, Wheaton (M), Lewis (D), Cheffey, Float (T), Eames, Lewis (R).

CHARD Sunday ladies played their final seven-a-side tournament of the season.

The competition was played on their home ground but hosted by Wincanton.

Chard had some very close games, winning 1-0, drawing two games 1-1 and narrowly losing three matches 2-1.

Goal scorers were Ros Clemmans (2), Lois Butcher (2) and Sasha Taylor.

Chard: Lou Bentley, Emma Wyatt, Sue Stoker, Tess Burrows, Abbi Wheaton, Sasha Taylor, Misha Taylor, Lois Butcher and Ros Clemmans. Umpires: Chris Long and Vince Sharpe.