Devizes A hosted a depleted West Wilts C side hoping to make it three wins out of three to keep them at the top end of the table. What West Wilts lacked in numbers they made up for with experience and professionalism and, with their focus on defence, made it difficult for Devizes to organise any meaningful attacks early on. Nick Gompels forced his way through a rare opening and scored the first goal of the match with a firm shot from the edge of the ‘D’. The 1-0 score line did not deter the West Wilts defence which continued to hold firm. Their counter-attacking strategy involved sending a well placed aerial pass over the midfield aiming to pick out a lone forward running at full speed towards the Devizes defence. This eventually paid off as their forward stormed past the defence and scored tidily to level the scores. Devizes again pushed forward and after a prolonged period of pressure Ed Palmer was the first to react to a rebound off of the keepers pads and scored from close range to nudge Devizes in front again before half time.

The second half started in much the same fashion as the first ended with Devizes attacking and West Wilts defending solidly, but it was only a matter of time before Devizes earned a penalty corner. Despite an unfortunate bobble after the injection, Jack Gompels remained calm, brought the ball under control and struck it cleanly to beat the advancing defenders and the goalkeeper, extending Devizes’ lead to 3-1. By this point of the match Devizes were beginning to make the most of their number advantage and their slick rolling substitute routine helped them to wear down West Wilts’ defence. Another penalty corner followed soon after and this time Paddy Gompels was on hand to deflect the ball past the keeper and into the goal. Jacob Stoner was the next to score as he stole the ball from the defence inside the ‘D’ and increased the lead to 5-1. Just as everything seemed to be going Devizes’ way Tom Syndercombe was given a Yellow Card for playing the ball above shoulder height and his time in the “sin-bin” meant Devizes had to play out the remainder of the game with 10 men. However, having played against 9 for the entire match they were hardly in a position to complain! Devizes’ last hurrah ended with Sam Hodge squeezing the ball between the goalkeepers legs with just seconds remaining making the final score 6-1 to Devizes A.

Despite a number of strong contenders (including Tom Syndercombe for his “go-go-gadget arm” moment and Ed Palmer for somehow managing to fall down the back of the goal - ?!) Nick Gompels was, rather harshly some may say, voted DoD for simply not fully charging the camcorder. In a strange twist of fate Sam Gompels (the only member of the Gompels clan not to score) was voted Man of the Match – presumably for his innovative technique for dealing with clearances from the opposition. A good end result which slightly flattered the Devizes A team but plenty of positives to build from before next week’s away clash against UWE. #SupportDHC!