Devizes A piled in to the club minibus for their away trip to Yate. After finally battling their way through the masses of Christmas shoppers bringing Devizes to a complete stand still, Simon Church decided that playing “Minibus Dodgems” was actually rather fun and wanted to have two more goes. He swerved and bashed and nudged his way back to the club house, made some dubious excuse about checking he had locked his van, then swerved and bashed and nudged some more all the way to Yate…!

Devizes had not played against Yate before but their high league position gave a good indication of the challenging game to come. The first few minutes of the match set the tone for the first half as Devizes played in their signature style of pass and movement. The forwards, bolstered by Jack Gompels in midfield, were constantly looking threatening and Sam Hodge gave Devizes an early lead when he deflected a firmly struck ball past the Yate goalkeeper. The early lead gave Devizes the opportunity to set a high press keeping the majority of play in Yates half. Jack Gompels unleashed a fierce shot from the edge of the ‘D’ which Nick Sherman got a stick to, deflecting it into the bottom corner. The momentum of the game was with Devizes as they worked the ball well, continuing to search for a third goal. Jack Gompels and Sam Hodge combined once more as Sam received an accurate pass in to the ‘D’ and pushed the ball in to the goal scoring his second of the match and seventh goal of the season. Yate seized any opportunity they could to attack themselves which the Devizes defenders had to be on top form to deal with. As a result of these attacks Yate were awarded two penalty corners towards the end of the first half. Both ensuing shots at goal were hit with real venom, with one screeching just over the cross bar and the second dealt with superbly by the advancing defenders. The first half ended with the score at 0-3 to Devizes A.

Yate came back very strongly at Devizes in the second half attacking with strength and numbers. Matt Hamill, Simon Church and Dominic Blackmore-Beales were as dependable as ever in defence but Devizes were beginning to struggle to clear their lines effectively as wave after wave of Yate attacks pinned the ball in Devizes’ half. Toby Benning-Batstone and Ed Palmer worked very well together in midfield and Nick Gompels created a very strong link between them and the defence enabling Devizes to turn defence in to attack at any given opportunity. Jack Gompels was very unlucky not to increase Devizes’ lead on the break as his shot beat the defenders and goal keeper but travelled just over the top of the cross bar. Aaron Holloway had had a relatively quiet game in goal but was called into action twice during the second half and made two brilliant saves. If the first half was a display of elegant and flamboyant hockey, the second was rather more gritty and ugly but Devizes used every ounce of their determination to keep defenders behind the ball and mark Yates dangerous forwards effectively enough to prevent them from scoring throughout a difficult second half. The final whistle blew bringing the first half of the season to an end with a very satisfying 0-3 win to Devizes.

In a game where every member of the team made significant contributions it was difficult to pick out any individual as Man of the Match. Sam Hodge was a strong contender for his two goals as was Jack Gompels for creating all 3 scoring opportunities. It was awarded, though, to Nick Gompels for his skilful contributions on the ball coupled with his strong leadership. Choosing DoD was a rather simpler affair (despite Toby Fechner’s best efforts to get in on the party by nearly forgetting his stick!) as Simon Church was duly nominated, seconded, and passed for his impromptu sight-seeing tour of Devizes earlier in the day! Devizes A’s next league game will be after the Christmas Break on 18th January away at Chippenham C.