Oxton hockey side win thriller over students (From Wirral Globe)

Oxton hockey side win thriller over students

2:50pm Tuesday 31st January 2012 in Sport By Jared Dunbar

OXTON Hockey Club men's first team hosted fourth-placed Sheffield University Bankers in the Northern Counties Premier Division, and Oxton got off to the worst possible start, conceding a short corner goal after just three minutes.

However, they recovered well from this setback, the defence of Tom Hughes, Ben Russell, Matt Couttie and Gordon Moore keeping opportunities on Olly Green’s goal down to a minimum for the rest of the half.

The Wirral team were able to build on this platform and took the game to Bankers with Joe Hillyer and Ali McKenzie in particular causing problems for the University's defence.

It was these two who combined for Oxton’s equaliser, Hillyer feeding the ball to McKenzie close to the base line.

The Bankers keeper could have been forgiven for thinking a shot from such a tight angle was unlikely, but Ali McKenzie took the angle on and blasted his reverse stick shot past him to make it 1-1 Oxton took control of the game at the start of the second half with Greg Vickers, Jonathan Hodgkinson and George Wilkinson controlling the midfield battle, and this dominance was reflected in the scoreline when Gordon Moore hammered home his 11th goal of the season with a straight strike from a short corner.

After a long period of possession the home team scored their third, Ali Parkes notching up his fourth goal with a calm finish to give Oxton a comfortable lead. But Bankers fought back, and as Oxton's defence momentarily switched off, a Bankers forward reacted quickest to a cross from the right and slotted the ball past Green to make the score 3-2.

Once again Oxton responded positively and Hillyer rounded of his man of the match performance with a well taken goal, beating his man on the outside before firing a composed finish into the bottom corner.

Bankers kept on pressing and were rewarded with a late goal, but Oxton played out the remainder of the game and were deserved 4-3 winners, the victory moving them up to ninth in the table.