A busy weekend of hockey saw both domestic and national action as the island’s men’s A plus the women’s A and B sides travelled across the pond to play their first games in the knockout England Hockey competitions.
The men’s A squad faced West Derby in the Men’s Tier Two Championship and came away with a fantastic 6-2 victory.
Also enjoying victory in Tier Two were the women's A team who beat Prescot A 4-1. A cracking start from the pushback saw the ball played into the D where Kim Carney was on hand to guide it into the net for 1-0.
Prescot attempted to respond but the Manx defence stood firm, before the visitors went close to a second when hitting the post.
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Some good runs down the right from Ellen Robinson, Sarah Blackman and Ela Blakemore applied pressure on the Prescot defence which was rewarded in the 25th minute when a goalmouth scramble resulted in Carney slotting home into the left-hand corner.
Prescot responded again before half-time, but IoM goalkeeper Rachel Overman saved well to prevent the hosts from scoring.
Prescot enjoyed the majority of possession in the first 10 minutes of the second half which paid dividends when they pulled a goal back, but this only served to fire the Isle of Man women back into action.
Hannah Leece won the ball back and played it to Ellan Cleator who found Carney on the left and she squared it to Evie Watterson who slotted home her first senior island goal.
After winning another penalty corner near the end of the game, a well-worked move found Dulcie Teare at the back post to fire home a well-deserved goal and round off a 4-1 win.
Unfortunately, the women’s B team were unable to share in the A side's celebrations as
they narrowly lost out 2-0 to Liverpool Sefton in Tier Three. The men’s B side received a bye and go straight through to the next round.
The island OAK Group-sponsored under-18 boys squad were also in action as they faced Preston in the Tier Two competition and came away with an impressive 5-1 win.
- Reports from the women’s B and under-18 boys’ matches will appear in this week’s Manx Independent, on sale Thursday.