Bath Buccs 0 - 10 Marlborough

Marlborough continued their positive start to the 2nd half of the season with a comfortable win away at Bath. Marlborough had beaten the higher ranked Baths Buccs team last week and knew that if they could put together a good performance they would achieve a convincing win, which they most definitely did.

Marlborough exerted constant pressure on the Bath back-line who struggled to get the ball it of the own half and then defended with many bodies inside their own 25m. It took a while for the first goal to arrive and it did when a strong carry down the left by Rich Fynn allowed Matt Way the easiest of touches as he got in front of his man and deflected the ball past the keeper. Marlborough kept an extremely high amount of pressure on Bath, with the midfield winning the ball in very dangerous areas of the pitch. Ed Kendall was well positioned following a lovely passing move by Marlborough to turn the ball into an empty net with John Berry squaring the ball to him, not a bad start to his 1st team debut. By halftime, the lead had been extended to 5-0 with a direct flick from Rich Fynn and Matt Way completing his hat-trick with a backhand from a narrow-angle and then reacting quickest to a rebound to sweep the ball home.

Marlborough knew the game was over as a contest and emphasised the need to maintain their standards of hockey. The goals continued to flow for Marlborough as they extended their lead to 7-0 within 5 minutes of the restart, Alex Renwick rolling his man and flicking the ball high past the keeper and then John Berry carrying hard through midfield, exchanging passes with Rich Fynn and firing the ball into the bottom corner.

To their credit, Bath kept playing until the final whistle but were unable to stop 3 further goals in the final 20 minutes. Captain Anil Sud struck the 8th, Rich Fynn carried well down the left and spun his man before firing into the opposite corner for the 9th and John Berry completed the scoring with the simplest of finishes following some excellent counter-attacking play by Matt Osborne.

Marlborough were pleased with the fact they didn't let their standards drop but know they will face much tougher tests before the end of the season.

Man of the Match was awarded Matt Way for "composed" forward play on his return to the starting line-up

D*** of the Day was "awarded" to Rich Fynn for some elite level hat-trick avoidance...