Southern one

Bodmin 3

Okehampton 3

OKEHAMPTON men's first travelled to Bodmin with just 11 men due to injuries to what they knew would be a tough hockey game.

Straight from the whistle both teams pressed well but Okehampton had the edge and with a quick counter attack; within five passes the ball was flicked over the advancing home side keeper by Leon Oxenham to make it 1-0 to the visitors.

Bodmin then piled the pressure on the away side's defence.

Oke keeper George Morgan did all he could do to keep the ball out, making some cracking saves. However, with Oke not seeming to be able to get out of their own half eventually Bodmin scrambled the ball into the goal for the equaliser.

Oke knew they had to get control of the game again, so good passing from Ross Davidson, Josh Speak, Andy Strong  and Jack Watson did just that for the next ten minutes. A superb ball from Andy Strong from inside his own half found Oxenham on the edge of the opposition D, whose first touch found fellow striker Sam Whalley; Whalley's shot was blocked but Oxenham pounced and from an acute angle powered the ball between the goalkeeper's legs.

After the restart the away side carried on controlling the game and good defensive work from James Rodgers and Will Cooper kept any attack from Bodmin out.

With Okehampton passing the ball well it was not long before they scored their third goal — this time through Whalley, who worked the ball up the pitch; Joff Stephens' final pass returned to Whalley who beat the last defender, took it around the out coming keeper and calmly hit the ball between the two defenders on the line.

Just before half time and after a few short corners the home side converted with a well worked routine.

The second half saw Okehampton struggle to get out of first gear and had to do a lot of defending. After 20 minutes into the second half the home side was piling on the pressure and won a short corner, a drag flick was deflected into the top corner.

The away side then rallied again and won themselves a couple of short corners; however, the Bodmin goalkeeper made a couple decent saves and kept the scores level.

With just two minutes left Okehampton won a short corner, which Andy Strong powered towards the bottom left corner but a good save from the Bodmin goalkeeper stopped Okehampton clinching the win as the match ended 3-3.