The men’s hockey 1sts were beaten 3-1 yesterday despite playing most of the match against a York St Johns team with only ten men. Although coming back from 1-0 down to equalise after half-time, York were undone by two quick goals that sealed the win for a spirited St Johns side.
York started the more strongly, pressuring the St Johns defence and forcing the opposition goalkeeper into an excellent reaction save early on following a short corner. Fast down the flanks and smooth in their build-up play, York were impressive in the early stages.
Annoyed by their inability to control the game, frustration started to get the better of some of the St Johns players, with one being sent off after only fifteen minutes for repeated dissent against the referee. This should have been the cue for York to go on and win the match, but instead the sending off seemed to galvanise a previously lacklustre St Johns side, and with ten minutes to go until half-time they scored after neat work from a short corner.
At first shocked by this unexpected turnaround, York regained their composure after the interval to level the tie 1-1. In a goal similar to St Johns’ earlier effort, Andy Harris picked up the ball from a short corner and swept it powerfully into the corner of the net. Although only having ten men on the field, St Johns were the team that created more chances and looked increasingly the more likely to score. In spite of Billy Walsh’s impressive composure in possession, York were slowly losing their grip on the match. With fifteen minutes to go, St Johns converted their dominance into goals, hitting York with two clinical finishes in quick succession. York tried to drag themselves back into the match, at one stage grazing the bar of the goal with a shot, but St Johns never looked seriously troubled.
Along with the football this was one of the most enthusiastically supported matches of Varsity weekend, but unfortunately the home side couldn’t capitalise on this strong backing. The win was a deserved one for a St Johns team that showed admirable skill and determination after having a man sent off early on, but the men’s hockey team will be disappointed with a performance that should have been better.