MINEHEAD Hockey Club’s Men’s 2’s were involved in a late fixture at a cold and frosty Taunton Vale - before eventually going down to a 5-0 defeat.

Still missing key players the 2’s were lucky to have Scott Fewings and Morris Burroughs to play to bolster the ranks as they came back from their earlier match, as well as good support on the sideline.

As expected, Vale dominated from the first whistle, moving the ball well in neat one-two patterns and making great use of back-passes to their central defenders. It took twenty minutes for Vale to convert an opportunity, space being found by ex-Seasider-turned-Vale centre-forward Nick Bennett to force a series of short corners. Two opportunities were quickly converted, followed by a third deflection from a sweetly-struck short corner to see a safe three goal lead at the break.

Minehead were resolute and never stopped playing; another selfless defensive shift saw stand-in skipper and Man of the match Simon Strong shed blood yet again for Minehead, John Clegg never stopped harrying in the midfield and along with Dom Bowden and Pete Cole were unlucky to be unrewarded for their efforts.

Newcomers Albert Vickery and Ali Prescott also held their own against quality opposition, Vickery in particular stepping in to an unfamiliar defensive role on the left side. Accolades, howeve,r go to Clappy in goal for his massive effort and huge number of saves to keep the scoreline as low as it was. Two more Vale goals saw them safely home 5-0 winners.

The 3’s took a squad of the bare eleven to Wells to face Mid-Somerset 2’s. A bitterly cold day meant Minehead were happy to get started and not leave anyone on the bench. However Mids had brought a strong youthful squad and were determined to make use of their substitutes. Minehead had three in defence and Richard Darlington up front as striker.

The midfield however stole the show and put in an outstanding performance throughout the whole match. The hosts keeper, who had been red-carded in the previous clash, kept true to form and was sent off again for an altercation with Darlington, which was capitalised on, and Minehead went in 2-1 up at the break.

As always with just eleven, the second half was a fitness test, but the Minehead midfield continued to pile on the pressure, leading to a great outfield goal by Morris Burrough and a run of penalty corners which should have been capitalised on. Mids rallied in the last quarter and slotted two goals to earn an unexpected 3-3 draw to end a thoroughly competitive and enjoyable match. Joint Man of the match Scott Fewings and Rufus Strong.