Marlborough 4 - 1 Bristol and West

Marlborough went into their fixture with Bristol and West know ing they needed to get back to winning ways if they were to maintain their position in the table and keep in contention for promotion. Following 2 defeats and no goals scored, despite numerous chances, they knew they needed to start well and be more clinical in front of goal.

Neither team were able to establish any dominance in the early play with turnovers on both ends resulting in a very a scrappy opening period. It was Marlborough who took the lead when Rich Fynn received the ball wide inside the 25. He "calmly lifted the ball over his opponents stick with his first touch" (Miss-trapped) and then drove towards the near post. Alex Renwick had taken up a fantastic position outside the far post but instead of playing the ball across, Rich dragged it on to his backhand and rocketed it past the keeper into the goal.

Despite the goal Marlborough continued to struggle to establish any sort of rhythm, looking unable to play with the kind of width that has allowed them to make such a positive start to the season. Bristol continued to play a very direct brand of hockey, with their captain looking to throw aerials into the Marlborough half at every opportunity. Despite this less than subtle tactic, Marlborough weren't able to counter it, allowing Bristol's forwards to receive the ball in advanced areas, creating numerous half chances but fortunately nothing able to beat the in-form Aaron Holloway.

Marlborough extended their lead against the run of play when Rhys Davies cleverly won a penalty corner. The ball was slipped back to the injector, Matt Osborne, who controlled the ball and calmly placed it into the bottom corner. The score remained the same at Halftime with Marlborough knowing the scoreline somewhat flattered them.The Halftime talk focused around looking to play with more width in attack and nullifying their aerial threat.

Marlborough managed to exert more control over the game in the opening stages but found themselves pegged back to 2-1 when a turnover in the Marlborough half allowed Bristol the chance to bundle the ball over the line at the 3rd attempt and despite some last-ditch defending. This seemed to shock Marlborough back into life as they started to find more space to receive the ball in the midfield and carry hard towards the Bristol circle. John Bromley in particular, pushing higher up the pitch from Right Half, seemed to completely throw Bristol out of their defensive structure. Despite this improvement, it took a moment of magic from Captain Anil Sud to extend their lead. He read the play to win the ball off an opponent as he tried to turn, weaved his way through (at least) 3 defenders and then fired the ball into the bottom corner.

Shortly afterwards Marlborough put the game to bed when they scored another goal from a Penalty Corner, with Charlie Hawley scoring his weekly deflection goal. By now Bristol has started to become frustrated leading to some questioning of the umpire and a green card to follow.

Marlborough saw the game out without any further issue, despite a few attempts to give Bristol the ball. With the win, they move onto 18 points from their opening 8 games. Marlborough played well enough to get the win but know they will have to do better next week in their long away trip to Swansea, who sit just 1 place and 2 points behind them in the table.

Man of the Match was awarded to Captain Anil Sud, for an all-round influential performance and scoring the goal which changed the game.

D*** of the Day was awarded to Rich Holman for his "generosity" to the opposition forwards.