GOCREA8 Premiership
Taunton Vale Men’s 1sts 1, Plymouth Marjon 2

VALE 1sts will be disappointed on their return to league action, losing their home game against Plymouth Marjon.

A much-altered side saw opportunity for new faces to perform.

After an uncertain start and an early injury to Vale’s captain, the hosts managed to take the lead midway through the first half.

A magnificent through ball from man-of-the-match Martin Johnson found Sam Young in space, who with his first touch of the game drew the keeper and fired an unstoppable backhand shot into the net from a difficult angle.

This boosted confidence and Vale played with far greater authority and control for the remainder of the half.

The visitors pressed hard early in the second half forcing errors from Vale and were rewarded with a number of penalty corners, one of which drew a penalty stroke, which was easily dispatched.

The game became stretched and ragged as both teams went in search of the vital second goal with scoring opportunities being created by both teams.

However, with 10 minutes remaining, a poor defensive clearance to Marjons’ lone central striker gifted a goal to the visitors.

Thereafter, Vale squandered a couple of penalty corners and, as players began to tire, indiscipline and increasing frustration led to some home player suspensions in the final quarter, from which Vale failed to recover.

Next week, the 1sts have a difficult fixture at league leaders Robinson’s HC seeking a swift change of fortune.

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GOCREA8 Central 1
Taunton Vale B 5, City of Bath A 2

THE Men’s 3rd XI kept up their hopes of survival with an encouraging win against City of Bath.

Vale took the lead when Tom Tridgell deflected in Colin Jewhurst’s strike from a penalty corner.

But Vale then struggled, with Bath looking dangerous on the break, forcing keeper Ed Peachy into action.

Bath then equalised after their skipper evaded a number of tackles and fired past Peachy. They were then reduced to 10 men following a head injury to one of their players.

The second half saw Vale improve their play as they were able to let their man advantage tell as Tom Russell gave Vale the lead with a tomahawk into the roof of the net.

Vale than quickly scored a third as Colin Jewhurst scored from close range.

Will Venn than picked up the fourth goal, applying a finish on the goal line after a scramble.

City of Bath than pulled a goal back through a penalty corner but Ian Brewer completed the scoring for a three-goal cushion and three points.

Man of the match: Calvin Bull

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GOCREA8 Southern 2
Chard 11, Taunton Vale C 0

VALE 4th XI had a trip to Chard on Saturday, and the team second in the league team displayed pace, precision and killer instinct to put 11 goals past Vale.

Putting aside the scoreline, Vale played hard for all 70 minutes despite not having played consistently together, and with a number of players stepping into new positions for the game.

With few other opposition teams likely to be so strong, Vale C will learn and move on.

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GOCREA8 South East 2
Taunton Vale D 1, Exeter University F 9

VALE’S 5th XI played University of Exeter 7th XI in their first game back after the Christmas break, and sustained a heavy loss.

The game always looked likely to be extremely challenging for Vale against the team second in the table and this was demonstrated by the limited ball possession they received throughout the first half.

Despite some hard work by the Vale players, visitors Exeter were dominant and quickly moved into an ominous 5-0 lead.

Despite this, Vale kept battling, and this eventually resulted in Ross Smith marking his debut in style, scoring a well-worked team goal.

However, the university side then scored one more before the half-time interval.

In the second half, Exeter scored three more to win the match by the handsome scoreline of 9-1.

Notable performances came from debutant Smith and Vale goalkeeper Josh Baker, who were awarded joint man of the match.

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THE Under-18s hockey boys at Queen’s College (pictured top) have become the first side in the school’s history to play in the national indoor finals.

They qualified for the tournament by being crowned West champions at Wellington School in December.

That meant a trip to Whitgift School, Croydon, at the weekend as one of the top 10 schools in the country.

The first day saw Queen’s lose narrowly 2-1 to The Perse, Cambridge, before a 3-3 draw with Repton, Derby.

Sunday started with another odd-goal defeat - this time 2-1 to Kingston Grammar School.

However, the tournament finished on a high note as Queen’s beat King’s, Chester, 6-3 in their final game - coming back from 3-1 down.

The result meant they finished fourth in their pool and so missed out on a semi-final place, but they could travel back to Taunton with their heads held high.