Relegation worries are eased (From Worcester News)

Relegation worries are eased

9:20am Thursday 18th March 2010 in

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STOURPORT had a weekend of mixed fortunes in the England Hockey League Men’s Conference West.

In a re-arranged fixture against Birmingham University on Saturday, the Wyre Forest side were weakened by the absence of six of their squad of 16 due to school commitments and long-term injuries.

Despite the disruptions, Stourport keeper Ben Dudley had little to do in a scoreless first-half.

However, within two minutes of the re-start, the Stourport defence misjudged an aerial ball and a Birmingham attacker rounded Dudley to open the scoring.

With five minutes to go, a Simon Mauger cross was deflected home by Phil Lashford and it looked as though Stourport had snatched a point.

Birmingham were not done, though, and converted a short corner a minute later to secure the win.

The defeat left Stourport in the relegation play-off positions ahead of Sunday’s game with bottom side Plymouth Marjons.

Stourport held their nerve and romped to an 8-2 triumph, which saw them move up to eighth in the table.

Lashford was the star of the show with a hat-trick, while Andrew Langlands (2), Wes Jackson, Peter Christmas and Liam Hennessy were also on target,  Despite beginning the match shakily, the women’s firsts scored a goal in each half to beat fifth-placed Beeston 2-0 in Midland Division One at Kingsway.

Stourport’s slow start allowed Beeston to play their game but, despite this, the home side managed to convert a short corner via a Sophie Harris shot from the top of the ‘D’.

After the break, player-of-the-match Pippa Lewis won another short corner, which was converted by Liz Cooke.

Four first-half goals, including two from Lucy Mattocks, was enough for the women’s seconds to seal a 4-0 victory at Towcester. After Mattocks had put her side 2-0 up, goals from Caroline Sidell and Fran Baron secured the points.

Despite a resounding 12-1 victory over Worcester Fourths at Kingsway, Stourport Fourths are still a point behind Worcestershire Division Three leaders Harborne Fifths.

Although Worcester could only field 10 players, their heads never dropped throughout the course of the match.

Stourport were simply in unstoppable form as two goals by captain Teri Baron sent them on the way to victory.

Caroline Wilson and Chris Corcoran both added first-half braces alongside a Katy Walker strike as the hosts went into the interval 7-0 ahead.

To their credit, Worcester scored first in the second-half, before the home side stepped up the pressure again and extended their lead with three more goals from Walker.

Baron then took her total for the game to four with two more strikes to complete the rout.