GoCrea8 South East 2
Chard B 2, Minehead 2

CHARD B ground out a deserved draw against an impressive Minehead side. 

The visitors settled into the game better as their quicker passing and movement off the ball was more precise than Chard’s, who could not settle into any rhythm.

Chard went behind as the ball found its way to the far post, the attackers’ dummy shot had the defence moving in another direction which left an easy tap-in. 

This seemed to energise the hosts as they became a lot more organised and used the right wing which Durgan Cooper exploited, and it was from one of his runs which led to Duncan Lewis pushing the ball beyond the despairing keeper.

Chard continued to grow into the game and were awarded a series of penalty corners - initially, the visitors’ runners were too quick for Chard to get off a good enough shot but as one of these blocks deflected into the path of Alan Cheffey, who scored.

As the second half started the game became a little more frantic, with the ball finding its way to both sets of forwards, but neither could get past the last defenders.

The visitors ended up scoring a deflected shot which brought the teams to parity and continued to press for a winner, but some great stops by Arthur Critchley meant the game finished as a draw. 

Team: Hibbard, Dare, Mooney, Millet, Critchley, Swain, Cheffey, Bromfield, Squire, Cooper (D), Cooper (B), Grossey, Lewis, Cockburn. 

ELSEWHERE, Chard’s first team picked up a much-needed win when they defeated Torbay 3-0.

It was just the second time Chard have tasted Southern 1 success this season, and they are now within two points of Bodmin.

They face a tough ask on Saturday, however, with a trip to league leaders University of Exeter D.

Chard Ladies started their calendar year off strongly with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Bridgwater 2nds in Southern 2 of the West Clubs Women’s Hockey League.

Emma Cridland, Sasha Taylor, Evie Dewhurst and Kate Phillips found the net, with EJ Hines collecting player of the match - she narrowly missed scoring after taking on seven players before hitting the bar.