Devon trophy

Plymouth

Marjon B 1

Okehampton 2

ON a fine spring Saturday morning Okehampton men’s team travelled down to Plymouth for their long awaited Devon Trophy final match; the opposition Plymouth Marjon B.

One thing was certain; this was going to be a tough, physical and demanding game, not just due to the rare sunshine and heat but because Okehampton had lost to Marjon in their two previous meetings in the league this season.

Just to add to the pressure this was Okehampton’s fourth trophy final in the last five years, always narrowly losing out. 

Both teams started off as expected, fast paced and aggressive, but Okehampton had their formidable structure cemented in place. Slick passing from the skillful duo of Nick Luxton and Luke Miller allowed Okehampton to work their way up the pitch, with the pressure resulting in a powerful surge forward from centre forward Sam Whalley, leading to a short corner.

Continued Oke pressure on the Marjon goal, resulted in a number of attempts on goal, but some cracking saves from the Marjon goalkeeper meant that no goal was found.

Okehampton went back to controlling the game. When the odd break from the Marjon side made its way through to the defence, they were thwarted by the solid back four of Neil Rowland, Rod Gers, Rob Hall and Senior Bourne.

As the first half neared the end, fatigue from the heat and hard work could be seen. The game became more open and end to end. Oke used their rolling subs well by bringing on their more direct attacking players, Andrew Patterson and Reuben Bourne. This added another dimension to Okehampton’s game but the first half ended 0-0.

The welcomed half time break gave both sets of players some well deserved rest and a chance to shelter from the sun. Spurred on by Rod Gers, the Okes were raring to go into the second half as soon as the whistle blew.

The second half started in the same way as the first began, with neither team managing to assert their dominance. Eventually after some fine work from the Okehampton forwards led to the opening strike.

The ever present Sam Whalley meandered into the Marjon’s D and from a tight angle released a powerful shot which was deflected off a tired defender’s stick and into the goal.

However, a well worked move down the Marjons’ right flank led to a rare visit to the Okehampton D, which they made the most of to score to make it 1-1.

Just after the restart Liversidge made one of his trademark solid tackles; he had been putting his body on the line all match and finally he came off second best with a nasty cut just above his eye.

With Liversidge off the pitch receiving treatment Oke were forced into a reshuffle in midfield, with Luke Miller moving into the central role.

With the game drawing to a close and tired bodies all over the pitch it looked like the game was going to penalties. However, Okehampton had other ideas. Some slick passing out from the defence saw the ball find its way to Miller who drove forward – a good pass found Whalley, who played a superb diagonal pass to a galloping Morgan who carefully slotted the ball into the net past a diving Marjon goalkeeper.

The Oke supporters erupted with joy.

With only four minutes to go Marjon threw the kitchen sink at Okehampton, with a penalty corner being awarded for their tireless work.

However, the corner was superbly dealt with and with an incredible tackle and clearance by Hall at the top of the D, the game was over. 

Okehampton had finally become the trophy champions.

Okehampton Hockey Club would like to thank their army of supporters, Devon Hockey Association for organising the day and the umpires who without them the games could not be played.