College Cup Hockey: Group 2 Round 3

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Photos by Adam Green

It was goals galore once more on Saturday afternoon at the JLD, as Halifax 2nds and James 1sts recorded comfortable victories, whilst Vanbrugh 1sts defeated Langwith 1sts 6-3 in the key group two encounter.

Langwith seized the first goal early on as their captain Doug Jayatilaka slotted the first goal of his eventual hat trick into the back of the net. Vanbrugh, however, squeezed out the early lead with two goals from Charlie Potter, who was making his college hockey debut, leaving the score 2-1 at half time.

The second half featured a plenitude of goals. Chris Baldrey and birthday girl Hannah Harrison both proved instrumental in setting up their Vanbrugh teammates. Langwith’s centre midfielders were equally prolific, as great team work led to Jess Paisely making a lovely one touch sweep into the net at the far post.

Langwith won territory in the opposition’s D, but Mylo Scurr stopped many attacks whilst providing some beautiful through balls. One such ball penetrated the opposition’s D for Charlie Potter to casually nudge the ball home. Both teams displayed seemingly endless energy in light of the fierce sun, and kept their composure to put on a brilliant spectacle.

Meanwhile in a ruthless display of benign control, James 1sts showed no mercy to Goodricke 2nds, consigning the team in green to an 8-3 demolition. Ben Crawley drew personal consolation from his third college cup hat trick as he continued to justify his role as the sharp point of Goodricke’s hockey rapier. Nevertheless even his exploits could not nullify the quality of James who, through goals from Declan Hall, Gareth Purvis, Rohit Rana and the indomitable Oliver Mcgraw, were able to pick up the points and record their third win, in what was a good natured game of hockey.

In the third game, Halifax 2nds made it consecutive victories with a thumping win over Derwent 2nds. By the end, most of the crowd had lost count of the score, which eventually finished 15-4 as the goals rattled in. Danny Williams and Graeme Osborn particularly shone, bagging five a piece, whilst Isaac Barker scored a brace. Derwent gave it their all though, and their spirit was commendable as they battled until the end, with a double from Callum Douglas being the highlight. Halifax though were ultimately too good for their opposition, with the final score beginning to resemble that from cricket.

James and Vanbrugh sit at the summit, with perfect records, but Halifax’s form has been improving after their opening defeat to James, and they are snapping at the leaders’ heels.