GOCREA8 Premiership
Cheltenham 3, Taunton Vale 4

TAUNTON Vale travelled to Cheltenham with a young side, hoping to continue their good recent form.

The first half was tightly-contested but a superb strike from Vale’s David Gibson took him to double figures for the season.

Cheltenham settled into the match and hit back twice to go into half-time 2-1 up.

After a half-time talk, Taunton tightened their press in the second half and were much better at breaking down Cheltenham's attacks.

They started to dominate possession, winning a few short corners.

After a few near misses and great saves from the Cheltenham keeper, Taunton finally got some reward.

James Linehan deflected one home from a very slick penalty corner routine and a drag flick was stopped on the line by a Cheltenham body, giving Taunton a penalty flick.

Youngster Jannes Unger calmly slotted it away to put Vale up by one.

A slick individual goal from Cheltenham made it 3-3 which set up a tense final five minutes.

As the Cheltenham discipline dropped, two of their players were carded.

Taunton won two short corners in the last minute and Unger fired the second home with a powerful drive to the bottom right corner with 30 seconds left to play.

Vale now move up to sixth in the Premiership and are beginning to look a class act in the division.

Man of the match: Jannes Unger

Squad: Paul Zirngibl (GK), Jonathan Lewis-Oliver (capt), Martin Johnson, Charlie Rutherford, Danny Sopp, Sam Nutt, Josh Hancock, Paddy Free, Olly Rowe, Dom Drew, Ross Hardwick, James Lineham, Dave Gibson, Jannes Unger, Karl Trunks.

Vale’s last match before the Christmas break is at home this Saturday - noon start - versus Bristol-based Firebrands. Spectators are very welcome.

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GOCREA8 Championship
Taunton Vale A 4, ISCA A 3

VALE A entertained ISCA A looking for their first win of the season.

The visiting side started strongly, taking an early lead through ex-player Oscar Harrington, who went on to bag a hat-trick.

Vale built into the game and scored through Sam Young from a penalty corner.

However, regained their lead just before the break.

Vale more open play chances after the break, Paul Hawkins levelling the score.

Sam Young gave Vale the lead with 11 minutes but were on the back foot as they were on the wrong end of a green and yellow card.

The pressure told and they conceded with a handful of minutes left.

Vale rallied, however, and hit ISCA on the break, Paul Hawkins grabbing the winner with two minutes to go.

Man of the match: Sam Young.

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GOCREA8 Central 1
Bristol University B 3, Taunton Vale B 1

AFTER an encouraging win last week, the Men’s 3rd XI had a disappointing result against Bristol University.

Vale started well with James Hebditch dispossessing a student midfielder to feed Harry Stephenson who skilfully won a penalty corner which was despatched by Colin Jewhurst.

The rest of the half saw the University dominate possession as Vale defended stoutly until just before half time when the students scored a penalty corner.

The second half continued the way of the first with Vale defending but unable to offer much penetration on the break.

Bristol’s dominance on possession began to show as Vale conceded two goals despite goalkeeper Ed Peachy pulling off a string of saves and manful defending by George Hebditch.

Man of the match: Ed Peachy.

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GOCREA8 Southern 2
Taunton Vale C 1, West Dorset 0

VALE C hosted West Dorset in what was a close-fought contest.

Chances came and went for both teams but it was the home side that capitalised with a goal from young Joe Shepherd.

Throughout the remainder of the game, the Vale defence held strong to keep only their second clean sheet of the season in turn securing a 1-0 win and a well-deserved three points.

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GOCREA8 South East 2
Tiverton 9, Taunton Vale D 0

VALE D travelled to undefeated leaders Tiverton, hoping to take some of the good form they had shown from the previous week.

They began slowly and were quickly 2-0 down but went into the break without conceding again.

But Vale experienced a number of injuries and, with no substitutes, the second half was much more challenging.

Despite standout performances from David Cole, Derek Truman and Tom Howard, Vale ended up running out of steam and conceding more goals.