Wootton Bassett were the visitors as Devizes A tried to build on their fantastic start to the season. With a reduced squad and a few key players missing it was never going to be easy for Devizes and Wootton Bassett took full advantage of this early on as they started the match at full throttle. Devizes were unable to switch on as quickly and conceded a very early goal which should have been the wakeup call required to kick start their response. Unfortunately this didn’t happen soon enough and Devizes found themselves in real trouble being a goal behind with little resistance shown and the team appearing to be falling into disarray. Wootton Bassett were still playing very good hockey but Devizes were beginning to match them in midfield and defending collectively. Eventually Devizes put together their first meaningful attack of the match and saw a glimmer of hope as they were awarded a Penalty Corner. Jacob Stoner injected to Tom Stoner who dealt with a bouncing ball and slotted the ball in to the bottom left hand corner of the goal – the umpire awarded the goal and Devizes jubilantly reorganised themselves with the ambition of turning the game around. However, in an event shrouded with mystery, the two umpires compared notes and the decision was overturned reverting the score back to 0-1 to Wootton Bassett. After this Devizes again struggled to work effectively as a team and soon conceded again. Showing great strength of character, Devizes refused to yield and started to show glimpses of what they were capable of. Another strong attack was launched and this time Sam Hodge was on hand to score his fourth goal of the season to put Devizes back in the game at 1-2. Wootton Bassett continued to attack strongly, particularly down the right wing, and stretched Devizes to their limits. A firm ball was struck across the face of goal aimed towards their forward bearing down on the far post. Simon Church did very well to intercept the pass only to agonisingly see the ball deflect off of the inside of the post and into the goal. It was not looking like it was going to be Devizes’ day. These fears were increased as Wootton Bassett scored again just before half time increasing their lead to 1-4.

Half time team talks do not often feature in match reports (after all, “Loose lips cost ships” ...!) but it was strangely encouraging to hear contributions from the whole team about what had been going wrong and why, and more importantly what to do to rectify the situation. As a result Devizes looked like a different team in the second half and were playing the structured, well organised style of hockey which had proved to be so effective in previous games. Attack after attack were launched but Wootton Bassett’s defence stood firm until Toby Fechner, in his first match, latched on to a through ball and smashed it past the beaten goal keeper with great panache. Simon Church’s moment to shine came midway through the second half where he attempted to tackle their advancing winger whilst performing a double forward somersault in the pike position with a half twist. He was awarded 7.4 for technicality but unfortunately only 0.8 for execution as he landed in a rather untidy heap just off the side of the pitch! Still sensing a come-back, Devizes continued to attack and Jacob Stoner added his name to the score sheet, closing the gap to 3-4 with quarter of an hour left to play. Wootton Bassett, who had defended resolutely throughout the match, were able to hang on to their lead despite Devizes coming very close to equalising on several occasions. And so, a fantastic game of hockey, ended rather disappointingly for the home team at 3-4 to Wootton Bassett.

Toby Fechner was elected as Man of the Match for a fantastic debut performance, including a quite brilliant goal, whilst Simon “Daley” Church was made DoD for his tackling and interception techniques...! The game was certainly a fantastic learning opportunity for Devizes, and the lessons learnt can hopefully be used to get back to winning ways next weekend against Chippenham D away.