GoCrea8 Premiership
Robinsons Men's 1sts 3, Taunton Vale Men's 1sts 

TAUNTON travelled to Bristol to face table-toppers ‘Robinsons’ knowing they were in for a close-fought encounter.

It was the hosts that were the more dangerous looking side in the early stages, and they took the lead with an early goal.

Taunton equalised with a second goal in successive games for Sam Young, and for a period the game was fought intensely and could have gone either way.

Vale pressed hard and were unfortunate to have a decision go against them as they were in on goal.

Robinsons countered immediately and scored, putting them ahead again.

There was no real fightback from Taunton on this occasion and Robinsons finished the game off with a third to leave the final score at 3-1.

A disappointing result for Taunton but with two home games in a row coming up they will be looking for some much-needed points.

The first of those matches sees Vale welcome the side directly above them in the table, Swansea University, on Saturday.

Taunton go into the match knowing they will leapfrog their opponents with a victory.

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GoCrea8 Central 1
Mid Somerset 4, Taunton Vale B 0

THE men’s third XI travelled to Wells in good spirits after their fine win against City of Bath the week before.

A strong opening 10 minutes saw Vale retain possession and dominate the early proceedings on a difficult surface, but Mid Somerset opened the scoring from a penalty corner as goal-keeper Dickie Smith’s save was not cleared and the rebound was bundled in.

In the next five minutes Vale found themselves three goals down as a break was finished at the far post and a penalty corner despatched.

The second half followed the same pattern but Vale were unable to create any clear-cut chances as they sought a route back into the match.

Smith then conceded a penalty flick as he brought the opposition forward down but redeemed himself with a fine save.

Pouring forward looking for goals to get themselves back in the game Vale conceded another goal and despite Calvin Bull and James Hebditch going close Vale were unable to trouble the scoreboard.

Man of the Match - Dickie Smith.

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GoCrea8 Southern 2
Taunton Vale C 0, PGSOB B 4

VALE C hosted PGSOB B in this week’s home fixture and went into the game optimistic, having held them to a 0-0 draw in the first half of the season.

The Vale team consisted of a lot of youth due to having several key members missing and in the early stages the lack of experience and strength did show through.

Vale struggled to match a well-drilled and vastly more experienced Plymouth team who scored three quick goals.

Some inroads were then made into the opposition defence through Peter Widden and Joe Shepherd to give Vale hope going into half time.

The second half was a much better contested affair as Vale let their opponents know they were in a game.

Plymouth still had their chances and it took several fine saves from man of the match Andy Criddle to keep them down to a single goal.

Vale’s team performance was much improved with Ned Aspden, Toby Berry and Joe Shepherd all linking up well in attacking spells.

The strong finish was great to see, but for the team’s results to improve a more consistent level of play needs to be executed in the coming weeks.

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GoCrea8 South East 2
Taunton Vale D 3, Chard B 4

FOLLOWING a morning of postponed games due to a frozen pitch, the pitch thawed sufficiently for Taunton Vale’s fifth XI to play their match against Chard B.

Vale started slowly and were quickly 2-0 down, but they pulled one back with an excellent goal by James Duder.

Disappointingly for Taunton, Chard then scored a third, but Vale did maintain their confidence and managed to score a second through Mariusz Manaku to go in at half time 3-2 down.

In the second half, the game offered fewer chances for goals but Taunton managed to equalise after a penalty flick was dispatched by Manaku.

Unfortunately, however, Taunton could not hang on to the draw as they conceded late in the game to lose 4-3, a result which keeps them second bottom in the table.

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OLLY Rowe has been selected for the England Hockey Player Pathway.

The Wellington School student, who is in Year 12, will attend a series of nine training sessions with elite coaches at one of 17 Performance Centres across the country.

Rowe will be following in the footsteps of the illustrious Carson boys who have become international players - Tom for England and James for Wales.

They were both at Wellington School, and Tom has been selected for GB men’s hockey for the Tokyo Olympic cycle.