Royston Hockey Club round up

Hockey

ROYSTON Hockey Club men’s first team drew 3-3 with Wapping in Division 2S on Saturday.

Wapping, setting the early pace, found the back of the Royston goal early on with a neat short-corner finish, and continued to inflict misery on the travelling Royston side with a short corner move straight off the training ground, leaving the visiting side two goals down and in danger of sinking fast under the Wapping pressure.

And things got worse as Wapping added their third before half-time as the match looked all but over as a contest.

After a frank half-time talk, Royston knew beyond doubt that they needed to raise their game to even compete with the Wapping side. An immediate response followed and some good interplay created all the space Graham Johnson-Mack needed to time his run to open Royston’s account from a yard out.

It wasn’t long before Johnson-Mack scored his second and Royston’s resurgence continued. It was captain Nick Ross who stepped up with a goal coming from a short corner strike to draw the teams level.

The ladies’ first team were left frustrated after their 1-1 draw at home to Stevenage in Division 2SW.

Sophie Gathercole opened the scoring for Royston with a superb strike from the top of the D, only for Stevenage to equalise in controversial fashion.

The men’s IIIs beat Berkhamstead 2-0 after a gritty performance in Division 7SW. The breakthrough came midway through the second half, with Nick Freeman latching onto a poor headed clearance by the keeper, and sending a fizzing ball to the onrushing Toby Hall at the back post. Hall kept his composure, and slotted the ball from close range.

Royston then looked to seal the match, and some great build-up play resulted in Freeman rounding the floored Berkhamstead keeper, and calming powering a shot into the back of the net to earn the win.

The ladies’ IIIs suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat against Potters Bar IIIs, while the men’s IVs maintained their second place in Division 8SW with a 2-1 win over Welwyn Garden City IVs. Both goals came in the first half while WGC scored late in the second half.